2 Hussein Deputies Are Questioned

Iraqi judges interrogated the notorious ex-general known as “Chemical Ali” and the former defense minister Saturday, opening the first phase in trials of Saddam Hussein’s top deputies.

Insurgents, meanwhile, targeted election offices and wounded four U.S. contractors in a roadside bomb attack.

In the northern city of Mosul, an improvised explosive device missed a passing U.S. convoy and exploded near a school bus, killing one student and injuring six, U.S. officials said. Iraqi witnesses said soldiers fired on the bus in the chaos after the attack.

Ali Hassan Majid, whose nickname comes from his alleged use of chemical weapons against Kurds and others, appeared haggard in a video released after the interrogation. He was shown leaning on a walking stick before sitting behind a desk. Journalists were barred from the proceedings.

Hussein’s last defense minister, Sultan Hashim Ahmad Jabburi Tai, stared at the ground as police officers stood on either side of him holding his arms.

Both were questioned by a panel of investigative judges in a hearing attended by their lawyers, Raid Juhi, the head of the panel, said.

The two were the first among top ousted regime officials to go before an investigative hearing. Eleven figures, along with Hussein, face trial for crimes committed during the dictator’s three decades in power.

Juhi said investigators were collecting evidence on alleged crimes dating to 1968, including illegal detentions, expulsion of southern Iraqi tribes from the marshlands, executions of political enemies and, most notoriously, the use of chemical weapons against the Kurds in 1988.

The videos were the first images of the men released since they were arraigned along with Hussein and the other detainees in July. Both wore gray suits and white shirts without ties.

Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said last week that detained leaders of Hussein’s toppled regime would start appearing in court in the coming week, in a bid to press ahead with the trials before a crucial national election set for Jan. 30.

Many Iraqis, particularly among the long-oppressed Shiite Muslim majority, have been eager to see the prosecution of members of the ousted regime begin.

The trials and election come amid persistent violence by insurgents, including former Hussein followers, that has raised concern about the success of the vote.

Insurgents fired mortars Saturday near a voter registration center in Dujail, a town about 50 miles north of the capital, killing one civilian and wounding eight others, said Master Sgt. Robert Powell of the Tikrit-based U.S. 1st Infantry Division.

On Friday evening, gunmen opened fire in another election center in Riyadh, a town southwest of the northern city of Kirkuk, city police said.

The insurgency in the nation appears to be consolidating in the north after intensive U.S.-led military operations in central and western Iraq aimed at uprooting militants.

The bodies of two men, apparently Iraqis, were found in the northern town of Baiji, police Capt. Hakim Ali said Saturday. They had been shot execution-style, and one had his hands tied behind his back.

Also near Baiji, four U.S. contractors were wounded in a roadside bomb explosion. Two of the men, who were employed by Florida-based Cochise Security Inc. to dispose of Hussein-era munitions, were hospitalized. Three of the company’s employees were killed in two attacks in April in Baiji, about 125 miles north of Baghdad.

In Mosul, three children injured in the roadside bomb attack remained in critical condition, said Dr. Ahmed Ismail of Salam Hospital.

Children on the bus and one Iraqi witness, Ahmed Zaki, said they believed U.S. soldiers had fired on the bus. “The Americans were shooting and the bus got hit,” Zaki said.

Military officials said troops had responded to the attack with small-arms fire and killed one insurgent, but they said the bomb had wounded the children.

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Times special correspondent Roaa Ahmed in Mosul contributed to this report.