A wave of car bombs hit Baghdad on Monday, killing at least eight people and wounding nearly 80. The bloodshed occurred as Prime Minister-designate Jawad al-Maliki worked on choosing a cabinet, which will share power among Shias, Sunni Arabs and Kurds in a bid to end sectarian violence that many fear could drag Iraq into a civil war.
Two car bombs near Baghdad's Mustansiriya University killed at least five people and wounded 25, officials said. A car bomb near the Health Ministry killed three people and wounded 25. Four other bombings in the city wounded at least 27 people.
Guerrillas attacked a police station near Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit, killing four policemen. Insurgents draw support from the Sunni minority, once dominant under Saddam.
Maliki, a tough-talking politician from Iraq's Shia majority community, has four weeks to choose a new cabinet and form a government of national unity, widely seen as the only way to halt sectarian violence.
The cabinet and Maliki's own appointment, made by President Jalal Talabani on Saturday, must be ratified by parliament.
SADDAM TRIAL RESUMES: In Baghdad's heavily fortified so-called Green Zone, the court trying Saddam Hussein for crimes against humanity heard the signatures of Saddam and six co-accused on documents linking them to the killing of 148 Shi'ites in the 1980s were genuine.
The prosecution had demanded the court commission a team of criminal experts to authenticate signatures and handwriting of the defendants facing charges of crimes against humanity.
Saddam and his half brother Barzan al-Tikriti have refused to give samples of their writing but both have said there was no crime in prosecuting the 148 from the village of Dujail because they were accused of trying to kill the former Iraqi president.
The defendants could face death by hanging if found guilty.
Defence lawyers demanded 45 days to study new evidence before commenting. The trial was adjourned until May 15 to give the defence time to present their witnesses in the next session.
Saddam sat in his dark suit and white shirt in his metal pen, unusually quiet for a man who has dominated the court with tirades calling for Iraqis to revolt against US occupation.
Prosecutors had hoped for a quick verdict in the Dujail case because it is far simpler than others such as genocide against the Kurds and charges of crimes against humanity in the suppression of Shi'ite uprisings.
The trial has been hit by the killings of two defence lawyers, boycotts and the resignation of the first chief judge to protest against what he called government interference.
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