Lawyers for former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein said Sunday that they might appeal for an adjournment at Monday's trial of Saddam amid Shiites calls to execute him.

Ziad Najdawi, a Jordan-based lawyer, told reporters earlier in Amman that former US attorney general Ramsey Clark and former Qatari Justice Minister Najib al-Nuaimi would go to Bahgdad on Sunday morning to help defend Saddam in court.

"Clark will challenge the court procedures and then call for the adjournment," he said.

However, leader of the largest Shiite party in parliament Abdul Aziz said Sunday that the government wants Saddam to "face the death penalty, because that is the will of the people."

The trial of Saddam, who is charged with crimes against humanity, such as the 1982 massacre in the Shiite village of Dujail, was set to resume in Baghdad on Monday after a five-week recess.

The first prosecution witnesses, some of them testifying from behind screens or with masks to protect their identity, were expected to appear before the court on Monday.

On Oct. 19, when the trial of Saddam opened in Baghdad, Saddam declared himself still president of Iraq and refused to recognize the court.

Following the slaying of two defence lawyers, Saddam's lawyers had boycotted all court proceedings for a month in protest. They agreed to resume the trial last week after the court warned to appoint attorneys to represent Saddam.

On Saturday, four western aid workers, including two Canadians,one Briton and an American, were reported kidnapped in Iraq.

According to a representative of the four people's organization,they had received no information on the abducted people and there had been no groups claiming responsibility for the incident so far.

Reports said the four people might be seized in a neighborhood of western Baghdad on Saturday.

The kidnapping raised the number of those foreigners kidnapped in Iraq to more than 100, among whom dozens had been executed by their seizers, since the US-led invasion overthrew Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003.

The US military announced Saturday that one US marine was killed in a roadside bombing on Saturday, raising the death toll of US troops in Iraq since 2003 to 2,112.

As a new gesture to seek to restore stability in the violence-wrecked country, current Iraqi administration announced Sunday that it will suspend a massive offensive against insurgents ahead of the December election while President Jalal Talabani was contacting rebel groups wanting to join the political process.

"President Talabani got in touch with me after receiving a callfrom Mr Mussa, and asked me to call off this operation to ensure the success of the national reconciliation conference," Interior Minister Bayan Baker Solagh told reporters on Sunday.

Last week, Talabani demanded the rebels stop violence and take part in the political process.