Shiite Party Leader Outlines 4 Steps for Iraq to Curb Violence

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim heads the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. (Vahid Salemi - AP)

The current level of violence showed few signs that it would soon decrease. Two soldiers attached to the 1st Brigade of the U.S. Army's 1st Armored Division were killed in separate incidents Monday in Anbar province, the military reported.

In Baghdad, seven mortar rounds fell on the Shiite neighborhood of Shula, killing a 6-year-old girl and wounding 12 people, police said. An hour later, in the city center, attackers ambushed six police cars on Haifa Street, detonating a bomb that killed three officers and injured two.

In the northern city of Tikrit, gunmen assassinated a prominent tribal leader known over decades for his connections with Hussein's government and with U.S. occupation authorities. Police said Sheik Mahmoud al-Nida, the head of the albu-Nasser tribe, was killed at about 8 p.m.

Hussein, meanwhile, remained hospitalized as his trial on charges of crimes against humanity resumed after a two-week recess. With the former dictator being force-fed after a 17-day hunger strike and his defense team boycotting the proceedings, the only participants in the defense's final arguments were his half brother and co-defendant, Barzan Ibrahim, and a court-appointed lawyer.

Hussein, Ibrahim and six others are charged with the slayings of more than 140 residents of the town of Dujail, where an attempt was made on Hussein's life in 1982. After a sometimes rambling final speech, Ibrahim told Judge Raouf Rasheed Abdel-Rahman that he was finished and, now, "even my health is up to you."

"Why?" the judge asked. "Isn't it in God's hands?"

"God is correct," Ibrahim replied, "but releasing me depends on you."

Special correspondent Muhanned Saif Aldin in Tikrit contributed to this report.