Saddam faces charges for gassing Kurds

FORMER Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein faces a range of charges from gassing thousands of Kurds to executing political and religious leaders, a list of the cases against him showed yesterday.

Meanwhile, insurgents opposed to Iraq’s new government launched mortar attacks that killed six civilians in the country’s north, officials said.

Iraqi officials want the case against Saddam, who could face 500 charges if prosecutors want to proceed on all counts, to concentrate on about a dozen thoroughly-documented cases authorities believe the ousted leader will be convicted on.

A list obtained early yesterday from the special tribunal, which will hear the case against Saddam and 11 of his henchmen, showed prosecutors seemed to be concentrating on 14 cases. Many received international attention during Saddam’s three decades in power. The list contains few details.

Iraqi authorities believe the trial against Saddam, which could commence within two months, will have a major effect on curbing the violent insurgency raging throughout the country, which has killed at least 844 people since the new Shi’ite Muslim-led government was announced on April 28.

Separate mortar barrages yesterday and Sunday, apparently targeting police stations in the northern city of Mosul, have killed six Iraqis, including two children, US and Iraqi officials said.

Gunmen also killed an Egyptian with US citizenship in western Baghdad, police lieutenant Hamid Zaki said today. The victim, identified as Ahmed Kamal, was shot dead yesterday while driving his car.

Lt Zaki said Kamal worked as a contractor with Iraq’s Electricity Ministry.

Egyptian and US embassy officials had no immediate comment.

A US soldier was killed on Sunday when a roadside bomb exploded near a military patrol in northern Iraq in the province of Kirkuk, the military said yesterday.

At least 1,669 US military members have died since the Iraq war began in March 2003.

Iraqi police shot at a suicide car bomber, whose vehicle still exploded at a western Baghdad checkpoint yesterday, wounding three police and three bystanders, a police official said.

In a bid to combat the insurgency Iraqi authorities have launched a US-backed counter-insurgency campaign dubbed Operation Lightning.

The US Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, which oversees military operations in the capital, provided figures showing that 887 suspected insurgents have been detained and 38 weapons caches uncovered since the operation began on May 22.

Meanwhile, Australia’s top Sunni Muslim cleric, who is in Iraq trying to negotiate the release of Australian hostage Douglas Wood, 63, captured in late April, yesterday said he had seen footage of the captive indicating Wood was alive.