Baghdad under curfew after Saddam's death sentence

BAGHDAD and two restive Sunni provinces were under a 24-hour curfew today in the wake of the death sentence on Saddam Hussein.

Officials said the clampdown would continue indefinitely.

Scattered celebrations of the sentencing of the former dictator continued in predominantly Shiah parts of the country, where there was no curfew. UK Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett today rejected claims that executing Saddam would make him a "martyr".

And she said the UK would respect the Iraqis' decision to sentence the deposed dictator to death, despite being opposed to capital punishment.

US president George Bush called yesterday's verdict "a milestone in the Iraqi people's efforts to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law".

The EU welcomed the verdict but said Saddam should not be put to death.

Meanwhile, two American soldiers died today when their helicopter crashed north of Baghdad, the US military announced.