A defense lawyer involved in the trial of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen on Thursday in Baghdad, said police.

Initial reports said the lawyer was one of Saddam's attorneys. Police said Saadoun al-Janabi, lawyer for Saddam's co-defendant Awad al-Bander, was abducted by 10 masked gunmen in his office in Baghdad's eastern Shaab district on Thursday evening.

Al-Bander was head of the Revolutionary Court under Saddam'sreign.

The kidnapping came just one day after the trial of Saddam and his seven co-defendants started on Wednesday for slaughter of 148 Shiite residents in Dujail in 1982 after Saddam survived an assassination attempt. Enditem