A judge in the tribunal created to try Saddam Hussein was assassinated by unkown gunmen along with his son outside their home in north Baghdad, two days after the tribunal ruled that a first group defendants from the Saddam regime would be tried for crimes against humanity. There was specualtion that Barawiz al-Merwani, 59, and his lawyer son Aryan, who are Kurdish, were killed for personal motives. But one of the judge's surviving sons, Kikawz, said: "We believe that the murder is politically motivated. The late judge had no personal problems with anybody at all. This is a terrorist act carried out by Ba'athists and terrorists."

Intelligence from insiders has enabled insurgents to kill scores of senior officials, clerics and army and police commanders in recent months. They struck the capital twice March 2, killing at least 10 Iraqi soldiers and wounding dozens at an army base and checkpoint, compounding a dark mood in the aftermath of the Feb. 28 bomb in the town of Hilla which killed at least 115 people. (UK Guardian, March 3)

Does all this indicate a greater Ba'athist hand in the insurgency?

See our last post on Iraq.