Witnesses at Saddam Hussein's genocide trial on Tuesday gave harrowing accounts of surviving killing fields where Iraqi soldiers executed Kurdish prisoners in sprays of gunfire and dumped their bodies in mass graves.
One witness, who testified behind a curtain to conceal his identity, told the court that as he and other detainees waited in a bus in the desert for what they suspected to be a firing squad, they decided to attack the sole guard in the vehicle.
"But other guards outside the bus shot at random, killing many people," he said. "I saw my friends falling dead like dry leaves from a tree."
He said he "miraculously" managed to escape. "I don't know how I fled. I can't remember if I jumped or walked."
Saddam listened quietly to the latest accounts of massacres, unlike earlier trial sessions when the deposed president has lashed out at those testifying against him, accusing them of sowing division among Iraqis or being motivated by Iran.
He and six co-defendants are charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity for their roles in Operation Anfal, a 1987-88 campaign against Iraqi Kurds in which the prosecution says 180,000 people were killed. Saddam and one other defendant are also charged with genocide.
The proceeding, which after the day of testimony adjourned until Nov. 7, is Saddam's second trial.
A verdict in his first trial, for the killing of 148 people from a Shiite Muslim town in 1982, is due Sunday. Many people expect him to be condemned to death _ a sentence that could inflame Iraq's sectarian violence.
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