Doug Stanglin

USA TODAY

Iraqi Shiite militants have attacked and burned the tomb in northern Iraq of ex-dictator Saddam Hussein, NBC News reported Thursday, quoting a senior Iraqi security official.

The report is accompanied by an amateur video posted to YouTube that allegedly shows the attack Monday in Al-Awja, Saddam's birthplace about 80 miles north of Baghdad.

The Iraqi security official tells NBC News that the body of the ex-president had not been removed for safekeeping before the attack, as some tribal leaders had claimed..

The unidentified official said the militants shown in the video are from Asa'ib Ahl Al'Haq, "League of the Righteous," a Shiite group. Saddam was Sunni.

Northern areas of Iraq have been the scene of fierce fighting between various groups, most notably forces from Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, also known as ISIS, a Sunni group.

Saddam Hussein was hanged in 2006 after he was convicted of killing scores of Shiite villagers in 1982. In recent fighting, the area around Al-Awja was recaptured from ISIS, but Iraqi government forces had left the tomb unguarded, NBC News reports.