Iraq to try Saddam aides in election run-up

BAGHDAD - Iraq will put some of Saddam Hussein's top lieutenants on trial next week, a month before a national election many hope will lay the ghosts of his rule, interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said today.

Hours earlier, a second suicide car bomber in 24 hours struck an entrance to Baghdad's government compound where Allawi spoke, wounding 12 people and possibly killing several.

"I will tell you clearly and specifically that next week, God willing, the trials of the symbols of the former regime will begin," Allawi told the National Council government watchdog.

His announcement took Iraq's Justice Ministry and US officials by surprise.

A Justice Ministry spokesman said he knew nothing of hearings next week.

Officials have said the 67-year-old Saddam, captured a year ago, will be among the last to face justice.

Allawi said a cousin of Saddam had been arrested and that a new mass grave had been found in Kurdish northern Iraq that may form evidence against the former Iraqi leader.

Recording a blow against an insurgency blamed by Iraqi and US officials on foreign Islamists and Saddam supporters, Allawi said police had killed an aide to Jordanian al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and captured two others.

Putting members of Saddam's old government on trial during the election campaign seems intended to rally all Iraqis behind the new US-backed order, though some have said it could inflame ethnic and sectarian divisions.

The Sunni Arab minority did well under Saddam, but elections will favour the long-oppressed Shi'ite majority.

Some Sunni leaders have called for a delay or a boycott of the January 30 poll, saying violence in Sunni areas makes voting impossible.

A senior Iraqi official, who asked not to be named, said he regarded Allawi's announcement as a pitch for pre-election attention and that more time was needed to arrange the trials.

The most prominent Sunni grouping, the Iraqi Islamic Party, said it was among 79 parties and blocs that had submitted lists of candidates before a Wednesday deadline.

But the party said it had yet to decide whether to campaign in the poll, in which Iraqis will elect a 275-seat National Assembly charged with drafting a constitution and appointing a new government.

A resurgence of violence in the Sunni stronghold of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, has put pressure on the US Marine force in the region, which suffered two more deaths, bringing to 10 the number of Marines killed in action in three days.

Richard Myers, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said "pockets" of guerrillas were active in Fallujah, preventing residents going home.

He said during a visit to Baghdad an increase in US troop numbers to protect the election would be reversed after the vote -- depending on the course of events.

Myers said failure to hold the election on time would be "a victory for the insurgents".

But Allawi warned that a successful election would not kill off the revolt.

"We shouldn't think this will all stop on January 30. We are facing a battle between good and evil," he said.

The full election lists, with candidates' names, would be made public on December 20, an Electoral Commission spokesman said.

Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has issued a religious edict demanding Shi'ites cast a ballot.

Shi'ite politicians have agreed on a list of 228 candidates that brings together Iraq's two main Shi'ite parties.

Allawi, a secular Shi'ite appointed with US approval, has said his Iraqi National Accord will present a list on Wednesday.

The suicide car bombing at an entrance to Baghdad's so-called "Green Zone" government compound mirrored an attack on Monday at the same checkpoint on the anniversary of Saddam's arrest.

Hospital staff said 12 civilians were wounded, five of them seriously. Some of the wounded spoke of others blown to pieces.

No Americans were hurt, a US military spokesman said.

"I saw a Kia car drive through the checkpoint and it exploded," said bus driver Mohammed Kathem as he lay wounded.

"Two of the people standing next to me were killed. I saw them cut to pieces," said another wounded man, Feras Saher.

Mangled wreckage littered an area in front of the sprawling compound, once one of Saddam's presidential palaces. It now houses the interim government and the US embassy.

Green Zone checkpoints have been a frequent guerrilla target.

Zarqawi's group claimed responsibility for Monday's bombing, which a hospital official said killed nine people.

- REUTERS