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BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Three gunmen in a speeding car killed a defense lawyer in the Saddam Hussein trial and wounded another Tuesday, raising doubts whether Iraqis can conduct such a sensitive prosecution in the midst of insurgency and domestic turmoil.

The assassination of Adel al-Zubeidi, who was representing former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, in a predominantly Sunni Arab neighborhood in Baghdad was the second attack targeting the defense team since the trial began less than a month ago.

Saddam's main lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi, blamed the Shiite-dominated government for Tuesday's attack, telling Al-Jazeera television that the shooting was carried by "an armed group using government vehicles."

"The aim of these organized attacks is to scare Arab and foreign lawyers," al-Dulaimi said. "We call upon the international community, especially the Secretary-General of the United Nations, to send an investigative committee because the situation is unbearable."

He called for moving Saddam and his colleagues into a neutral country. Al-Dulaimi said defense lawyers do not recognize the trial's next date, which comes on Nov. 28.

Al-Dulaimi's call was echoed by Richard Goldstone, the first prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and one of the world's most prominent jurists. He suggested the trial be moved to another Arab country "where there is security."

"I don't understand how you can have a fair trial in this atmosphere of insecurity, with bombs going off," Goldstone told The Associated Press by telephone.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said it was important for the trial to be conducted in a safe environment.

"That's an important priority, to make sure that you have the security environment in place for those trials to proceed and for witnesses to be able to participate in the trial as well in a secure way," McClellan said in Washington. "We've got to work to make sure that the security is in place for those trials to proceed in a fair and impartial and safe way."

Saddam and seven others have been charged with the 1982 killings of Shiite villagers in Dujail, a town north of Baghdad, following an assassination attempt against the leader. The trial opened Oct. 19 and was suspended until late November to allow the defense time to prepare its case.

On Oct. 20, Saadoun al-Janabi, was abducted from his office by 10 masked gunmen, a day after he attended the first session of the trial, acting as the lawyer for co-defendant Awad al-Bandar. Al-Janabi's body was found hours later with two bullet shots to the head near his office in Baghdad.

Police Lt. Khalid Hassan said the two lawyers were driving through the Adil neighborhood about 12:45 p.m. Tuesday when an Opel with a driver and three masked gunmen pulled alongside and sprayed their car with automatic weapons fire.

Al-Zubeidi, who also represented former Baath Party official Abdullah Kazim Ruwayyid, was shot to death. Thamir al-Khuzaie, who represents Saddam's half brother, co-defendant Barazan Ibrahim, was wounded.

Chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Mousawi expressed regret over the attack against "our colleagues in the judiciary" and said the court would do everything possible "to arrange security for the lawyers."

"God willing this incident will not affect the coming session," al-Mousawi said.

However, Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director of Human Rights Watch, said the latest attack shows that the Iraqi government needs "to reassess whether the conditions guaranteeing rights of every defendant exist."

"It is clear that whatever the government is doing is not working and is not adequate," she said. "They have to go back and figure out how to create conditions necessary for a fair trail, above all the safety of the defense team."

Elsewhere, the U.S. military said Tuesday that Marines killed five insurgents trying to plant explosives and captured 10 others the day before in the western city of Ramadi as American forces there stepped up their campaign to suppress deadly roadside bombs. Roadside bombs killed at least seven Iraqi security troops across the country on Tuesday.

Four Americans died Monday evening in a suicide car bombing in southwestern Baghdad, the military said. A civilian translator also was killed in the attack.

The deaths of the Americans brought to at least 2,054 the number of U.S. military personnel who have died since the Iraq war started in 2003, according to an AP count.

Some international human rights organizations already had raised questions about the conduct of Saddam's trial and their concerns mounted after al-Janabi was killed.

Following al-Janabi's death, members of the defense team said they had suspended further dealings with the special court until their safety is guaranteed.

Al-Ubaidi said the entire defense team had rejected an offer of guards from the Interior Ministry, pointing to frequent Sunni Arab accusations that ministry forces or Shiite militias linked to the government have killed members of the minority that was dominant under Saddam.

He said then that they were talking with U.S. officials about getting protection from American troops. But a later defense team statement said that it would seek United Nations protection for the Iraqi lawyers because they do not trust either the U.S. military or the Iraqi government to ensure their safety.

Saddam's defense team, which includes some 1,500 lawyers who act as advisers, is led by al-Dulaimi and Abdel Haq Alani, an Iraqi-born lawyer based in Britain. Alani is the top legal consultant to Saddam's daughter, Raghad, and believed to be backbone of defense team.

Alani said the latest killing confirmed defense fears that they were being systematically targeted.

"This is a sham, not a trial," he told AP by telephone, blaming the Bush administration for the turmoil in Iraq.

"The whole trial, the bloodshed in Iraq, the killings, the violence and everything else wouldn't have happened, had the Americans not invaded Iraq," Alani said. "After invasion and occupation, the occupying power is responsible for protecting the lives of the people under occupation."

U.S. commanders have stepped up operations against the insurgents in hopes of establishing enough stability for national elections to go ahead as planned Dec. 15. U.S. officials hope to encourage a large turnout among Sunni Arabs to encourage many of them to lay down their arms and join the political process.

The chief of staff of Iraq's army, Gen. Babaker B. Shawkat Zebari, told the Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat that U.S. and Iraqi forces will expand a major offensive under way in the town of Husaybah to include other insurgent strongholds in the Euphrates River valley. The area is a major way station for foreign fighters entering the country from Syria.

Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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