US troops pulled down a 20 foot-tall statue of President Saddam Hussein in central Baghdad on Wednesday, as a small crowd of Iraqis cheered.

Soon after American troops entered the centre of Baghdad, the crowd gathered around the statue, erected in 2001 in place of the Unknown Soldier Monument, and tried to bring it down with a sledgehammer and a rope, but without much success.

After a while, American troops came up to lend a helping hand with a tank recovery vehicle and pulled the metal-cast statue down.

When the statue came down, the gathered Iraqis jumped on it and started thrashing it with their chappals.