Tuesday, September 12 2006 10:54 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Baghdad: Ousted dictator Saddam Hussein yesterday (Sept 11, 2006) charged that his genocide trial was 'dividing Iraq' as Kurdish witnesses told of the horror of gas attacks unleashedagainst them during the brutal Anfal campaign of 1987-88.

"The whole beginning (of witness testimonies) is aimed at creating a split within Iraq between the Kurds and Arabs," Saddam said in a tirade from the dock as the trial resumed after a three-week recess.

Saddam and six co-defendants including his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, dubbed 'Chemical Ali' face charges including genocide over Anfal which prosecutors say was a systematic campaign of slaughter that killed 182,000 Kurds.

"I want to give a message to the Iraqi people that they should not suffer from this guilt that they killed Kurds. This is shameful," he said.

Saddam, who is also awaiting a verdict in a trial over the killing of Shiite villagers after an attempt on his life in 1982, is charged with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity over the Anfal campaign.

If found guilty, he faces execution by hanging.

But Saddam, showing flashes of anger, claimed he had on several occasions acted on behalf of the Kurdish minority in Iraq.

"After the Iran-Iraq war ,I made a statement on TV and radio giving orders that no Iraqi security force should arrest Kurds, and if anyone has problems with Kurds, they should complain to Saddam Hussein," he said.

The former dictator also said it was he who agreed autonomy for the Kurds in northern Iraq in 1970, when he was vice president.