Video: 'Saddam Hussein Regime collapses in Iraq, April 2003'

(Wednesday, April 9, 2003, 6:49 p.m. Arabia Standard Time; during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, part of the Iraq War, the Iraq conflict and the War on terror) — Jubilant Iraqis celebrated the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime today, beheading a toppled 20-foot-tall statue of Saddam in Baghdad’s Firdos Square shortly after the capture of the city.

Video: 'The Toppling: How the Media Created the Iconic Fall of Saddam's Statue'

While Baghdad was formally occupied by U.S.-led Coalition forces today, much of the city remained unsecured and fighting continued within the city and its outskirts well into the period of occupation.

Meantime, Saddam had vanished and his whereabouts were unknown for now.