Iraq began today to lift a curfew imposed to quell any insurgent backlash against the death sentence passed on Saddam Hussein, amid a wave of jubilation among his former victims and fury among diehard supporters.
Saddam Hussein is restrained as he protests in court yesterday
Five more American soldiers were killed, the military announced on the eve of mid-term US elections in which discontent over the Iraq war could cost President George W. Bush's Republicans control of Congress.
Mortar rounds slammed into areas around Baghdad's Green Zone, the fortified compound that was once Saddam's palace complex and now houses the courthouse where he was tried. The prime minister's office said vehicles would be allowed back in the streets of the capital at 6 am tomorrow.
Pedestrians were free to move around again immediately in Baghdad. Curfews mostly kept down violence yesterday and today after the Iraqi High Tribunal convicted Saddam, the former president, of crimes against humanity and sentenced him to death by hanging.
But the verdict of a trial US officials hoped would help heal the country has divided Iraqis, being greeted with joy by Shia Muslims oppressed under Saddam but humiliating Sunnis.
The Interior Ministry forced two Sunni Arab channels off the air yesterday, saying they were inciting violence. In contrast, state television, controlled by the Shia-led government, has broadcast non-stop scenes of celebration and graphic images of Saddam-era executions since the verdict was announced.
About 200 Saddam supporters demonstrated today in Falluja, in western Iraq, chanting old Saddam slogans such as "We will give our blood for you." Mosul in northern Iraq also saw pro-Saddam demonstrations, as did Samarra, north of Baghdad.
Facing reverses in yesterday's elections because of disillusion with his venture in Iraq, Mr Bush hailed yesterday's verdict from the US-sponsored Iraqi High Tribunal as a vindication.
"My decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the right decision and the world is better off for it," he said while campaigning. He called the judgment "a milestone in the Iraqi people's effort to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law".
US officials denied suggestions that the verdict, whose full written version will not be available for several days, was delivered in haste deliberately to help the Republican campaign.
Mr Bush spokesman Tony Snow called that "absolutely preposterous".
An automatic appeal against Saddam's sentence for killing, torturing and jailing hundreds of Shias from the town of Dujail means no execution is likely until next year at the earliest.
Kurds, for whose alleged genocide Saddam is due back in court tomorrow, want their own day of judgment.
Defence attorneys said however they saw little hope from the appeal and dismissed the sentence as "victor's justice".
In Baquba, a violent city with a mixed population northeast of Baghdad, police put the final casualty toll at two dead and six wounded among pro-Saddam demonstrators when police and Iraqi troops opened fire on them after Sunday's ruling.