LONDON, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein's Baath Party exhorted Iraqis to "strike without mercy" at the U.S. occupiers and Shi'ite Iran to avenge the execution of Iraq's former president but warned them not to be drawn into a civil war. "Today is your great day. Strike without mercy at the joint enemy in Iraq -- America and Iran," the party said in a statement posted on an Iraqi Web site on Saturday. "Forget your organisational structures and take the stand of honour you deserve which is to take revenge for Saddam Hussein," said the statement, posted on the www.albasrah.net. Its authenticity could not be immediately verified. The statement came shortly after the former Iraqi president was hanged at dawn on Saturday for crimes against humanity, more than three years following his overthrow by U.S.-led forces. His execution on the first day of the Muslim Eid al-Adha Muslim feast came after a court convicted him over the deaths of 148 Iraqi Shi'ites in the town of Dujail following a 1982 assassination attempt. Saddam's execution has further divided Iraqis, with Iranian-backed majority Shi'ites who suffered under him rejoicing at his death, while his fellow Sunnis voiced anger. The pan-Arab Baath Party, which ruled Iraq for more than three decades until Saddam's fall but is now banned, warned followers to avoid harming fellow Iraqis. "Let your destructive response be by stepping up jihad (holy struggle) against the occupation and against Iran," said the statement. "Avoid reactions against Iraqis because this is what Iran and America want, which is to turn your holy jihad against the American-Iranian invasion into a civil war." "Our revenge from America and Iran is in defeating the occupation and causing it bigger losses." Saddam had fought an eight-year war against Iran in the 1980s. His Baath party holds clerical rulers of Shi'ite Iran and the United States responsible for sectarian violence that has brought Iraq to the brink of civil war between Sunnis and Shi'ites.
