Lance Corporal Graeme Church said the British forces were shocked by the response they received when they began to knock down the statue.

"As soon as the locals saw what we were doing, they started coming out to watch. Very quickly they were starting to cheer," said the 27-year-old from the northeastern English city of Middlesborough.

"It was as though over the years the statue had helped to put a stranglehold on the whole town and by its destruction the people had been emancipated.

"Hopefully its destruction will be sign of things to come for Saddam and his followers."

Saddam's head was ripped from the body.

The demolition had been ordered by military chiefs after they decided all images of Saddam should be removed from the streets.

The move has been designed to, as one senior officer described it, "free the hearts and minds" of the Iraqi people from Saddam's 24-year rule.

Only days previously the southern town of Az-Zubayr, just 16 kilometresmiles) southwest of the southern metropolis of Basra, was a stronghold of the Saddam Fedayeen, a paramilitary militia.

Using a Challenger Armoured Recovery and Repair Vehicle (CRARRV), the statute was destroyed by members of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, 25 Armoured Engineer Squadron.

They make up part of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment Battle Group, better known as the Desert Rats.

The CRARRV, which is built upon a Challenger tank's chassis and has the pulling power of 100 tonnes, strained to lift the statue on to its crane.

However it was not broken up.

Saddam was dragged the six kilometres (four miles) back from the town's market square to the Desert Rats camp on the outskirts of Az-Zubayr, where it now takes pride of place as a war trophy in the unit's yard.

The statue had shown Saddam dressed in full military dress saluting to the skies.

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