BEIJING, Dec. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was reportedly arrested on Sunday in his hometown of Tikrit. Following are some facts about the town and its links with Saddam.

    Tikrit is located in Saladdin province on the west bank of the Tigris river, 180 kilometers northwest of Baghdad. As it lies on the way to the northern city of Mosul and Kirkuk, the town, with apopulation of 50,000, is of strategic significance and defended bythe Adnan Republican Guard division during the Iraq war earlier this year.

    Saddam was born in Awja, a village close to Tikrit, on April 28,1937. Since he assumed presidency in 1979, a great number of Tikrit people took leading positions in the government and military forces, and Tikrit, a small farming and trading town at the time of Saddam's birth, also saw unprecedented development.

    Tikrit is home to one of his presidential palaces which covers an area of 7.8 square kilometers. A labyrinth of underground channels are said to have been built there for Saddam's convenience.

    Every year, birthday celebrations and a military parade will beheld there for Saddam on a magnificent square. The parking lot of the square can house thousands of vehicles.

    Well-equipped hospitals, schools and universities were also built there. The most famous is the Tikrit University, which has been repeatedly inspected by UN weapons inspectors before the Saddam regime was toppled. Enditem