Some Iraqi officials at the scene said Saturday morning that only Saddam Hussein was executed at the dawn, denying earlier media reports that two Saddam's aides were also executed, reported the state TV station Iraqiya.

Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, National Security Adviser, told Iraqiya that the two co-defendants of Saddam, his half brother and intelligence chief Barzan Hassan al-Tikriti and revolutionary court judge Awad Ahmed al-Bandar, would be executed after the Eid al-Adha holiday, which ends on Thursday.

"We wanted him to be executed on a special day," he said.

Talking on Saddam' execution, al-Rubaie said that the former dictator "totally surrendered" and did not resist. "He did not ask for anything. He was carrying a Quran."

According to the official, a judge read the sentence to Saddam, who was taken in handcuffs to the execution room, where photographs and video footage were taken.

"Saddam's execution was 100 percent Iraqi and the American side did not interfere," stressed al-Rubaie.

Meanwhile, Judge Moneer Haddad, who witnessed the execution, also said that he had seen only Saddam.

Earlier, the state television quoted Foreign Ministry official Mariam al-Rayis as saying that Saddam and his two co-accused were hanged one after the other.

"It was between 5.30 am (0230 GMT) and 6.30 am (0330 GMT)" and "the whole thing was filmed," said the official, adding "Saddam was hanged first, then Barzan, then Bandar."

U.S.-backed Iraqi TV Al Hurra reported in the early morning that Saddam Hussein was executed by hanging shortly before 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) Saturday.

The execution took place after Saddam, who was born on April 28, 1937, and was deposed by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, was handed over to the Iraqi authorities from a U.S. camp near Baghdad international airport where he had been held.

On Nov. 5, a panel of five Iraqi judges sentenced Saddam, his half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti and Iraq's former chief judge Awad Hamed al-Bandar to death by hanging for killing of 148 people in Dujail, some 60 km north of Baghdad.

On Dec. 3, the defense lawyers of Saddam officially appealed to the higher court against the death penalty imposed on Saddam and another two codefendants.

However, the Iraqi appellate court chief announced on Tuesday that the court had upheld the death sentence for Saddam Hussein.

Source: Xinhua