IRAQ: War crimes trials of some of Saddam Hussein's top deputies will begin next week, Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said, but he did not say whether Saddam himself would take the stand.
"I will tell you clearly and specifically that next week, God willing, the trials of the symbols of the former regime will begin," Mr Allawi yesterday told Iraq's National Council, a body set up to check the workings of his government.
But asked for more details, Iraq's Justice Ministry said it had not been told anything about the latest plans.
"We have no details or information about this," a Justice Ministry spokesman said. "When the Prime Minister said this in the National Council today, personally, I was surprised."
Insurgents attacked an Iraqi police convoy travelling from the southern city of Basra to Baghdad yesterday, killing at least four police officers, police said.
The police were ambushed near the town of Salman Pak, about 30km southeast of Baghdad, and between four and 10 of them were killed, a senior source said.
Earlier, a suicide car bomber struck an entrance to Baghdad's Green Zone government compound, 24 hours after an almost identical attack at the same checkpoint on the first anniversary of Saddam Hussein's arrest.
Hospital staff said 12 civilians were wounded, five seriously. No Americans were hurt, a US spokesman said.
A US official said the announcement of trials caught him by surprise.
An Iraqi official said it was an election stunt by Mr Allawi, who is due to announce his electoral list today.
No one could say which aides would go on trial next week, but Iraq's deputy prime minister told reporters last month that Ali Hassan al-Majid, otherwise known as Chemical Ali, and Watban Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti, one of Saddam's feared half-brothers, would be among the first.
Twelve leaders of the old regime, including Saddam, are being guarded by US troops as they await trial by Iraqi judges. They appeared briefly in court in July to be told of the charges against them, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, and some briefly shunned food this week as part of a short-lived protest against their detentions.
Saddam was captured by US troops a year ago, on December 13th, after eight months on the run.
Confirming Saddam's long-suspected location yesterday, Iraqi Human Rights Minister Bakhtiar Amin said he was being held at the US military base of Camp Cropper near Baghdad.
Mr Allawi said other senior figures had also recently been detained and would be tried, including a cousin of Saddam's, Izzedine al-Majid al-Tikriti, who was seized last week.
"He is now in the custody of Iraqi authorities. The interrogation is ongoing and he will, God willing, be presented to trial," Mr Allawi said.
Much of the evidence against those facing trial is expected to come from mass graves discovered around Iraq in the 21 months since the former regime was overthrown.
Mr Allawi said another grave, containing some 500 bodies, had been discovered yesterday near the city of Sulaimaniya, in the autonomous Kurdish region of north-eastern Iraq. - (Reuters)