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Sunni sheik, family members slain

Hussein trial scheduled to resume Monday

Kadhim Sarheed Ali al-Dulami's nephew cries during his uncle's funeral Wednesday in Baghdad.

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Gunmen dressed as Iraqi troops stormed the home of a senior Sunni leader Wednesday, killing him, his three sons and a son-in-law, Iraqi police said.

Neighbors told authorities that at least 10 vehicles that appeared to belong to the Iraqi army stopped outside the western Baghdad house of Kadhim Sarheed Ali al-Dulami, a sheik of the Sunni al-Dulami tribe, before gunmen went inside the home and shot the men. The killings took place about 4 a.m. local time in the Hurriya neighborhood.

The Associated Press quoted an Interior Ministry official, Maj. Falah al-Mohammedawi, as identifying al-Dulami as the brother of a parliamentary candidate in the December 15 election.

Al-Mohammedawi also told the AP that government forces were not involved and that insurgents were the focus of the investigation.

"Surely, they are outlaw insurgents. As for the military uniform, they can be bought from many shops in Baghdad," he told the AP. "Also, we have several police and army vehicles stolen, and they can be used in the raids."

One of al-Dulami's sons was assassinated a month ago, a Sunni leader told CNN. The son's body was found in western Baghdad's Shulaa neighborhood.

Al-Dulami was chief of the Batta tribe, a branch of the al-Dulami tribe.

In other violence Wednesday, two mortar rounds exploded around 4 p.m. (8 a.m. ET) in central Baghdad, wounding at least three people, according to an official with the Baghdad emergency police.

One exploded near the Ministry of Justice on Haifa Street, the other near Mutthaf Square. Both were a few hundred meters apart.

Also Wednesday, unknown gunmen killed Radi Ismail Jouwad, the head of a battery company in northeastern Baghdad, as he was leaving his home at about 8 a.m., police said.

An Iraqi civilian also was killed and another wounded about 7:15 a.m. when a roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi police patrol detonated in the northeastern town of Khalis, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) outside of Baquba, according to Baquba police. (Watch how close the Iraq army is to taking over -- 3:42)

Trial on despite boycott threats

The trial of Saddam Hussein and his seven co-defendants is scheduled to resume Monday despite threats of a boycott by the former Iraqi leader's defense team, a U.S. official close to the court said.

Defense attorney Khalil al-Dulaimi has insisted his team will not participate in the trial until a solution to protect its members is found. In the last month, two defense attorneys were killed.

Adil Muhammed al-Zubaidi, who represented former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, was fatally shot November 8 in an attack that left another lawyer wounded.

Sadoon Janabi, who represented Awad Hamad Bandar, the former chief judge of Hussein's Revolutionary Court, was kidnapped and fatally shot in the head October 20, a day after the trial began.

The security options for the defense attorneys "are at least as good as those" being offered to other participants in the trial, the U.S. official said.

Hussein and seven other former regime members are on trial for charges they ordered the killing and torture of citizens in Dujail 23 years ago after a failed assassination attempt on the Iraqi leader. (Full story)

Other developments

Visiting in Baghdad on Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Connecticut, said failure in Iraq would be "catastrophic" for the United States and Middle East and that U.S. forces should not pull out before Iraqi forces are fully trained. (Watch how many soldiers are only concerned with surviving -- 2:36) Lieberman's comments come amid calls from prominent Democrats for the United States to set a timetable for bringing U.S. troops home -- proposals the Bush administration and congressional Republicans have dismissed. (Full story)

The U.S. general in charge of helping Iraq create an army says training troops to replace American-led coalition forces cannot be rushed but admits the training is sporadic. "We are moving at a measured pace," Army Gen. Martin Dempsey said. (Full story)

A suicide bombing Tuesday killed 18 people and wounded 28 others in the northern city of Kirkuk, Iraqi police said. (Full story)

A mortar round exploded Tuesday near officials attending a Tikrit ceremony in which Americans handed over a base to Iraqis, a senior U.S. military spokesman said. Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. ambassador to Iraq, and Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in the country, were in attendance. No one was injured, the spokesman said.

CNN's Arwa Damon and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.

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