Saddam Hussein's chief lawyer yesterday walked out of the court after his requests were rejected by the chief judge, while US soldiers' death toll in October breached the 100 benchmark amid surging violence.

Khalil al-Dulaimi, Saddam's chief attorney, showed up in Monday's 19th session, ending a month-long boycott of the trial of Saddam, the toppled Iraqi president.

Dulaimi presented a list of 12 demands, including permitting the foreign lawyers to defend their clients in the court.

He told the chief judge he would withdraw from the court as long as the demands were not met.

"I inform the court that I am withdrawing," Dulaimi said before he took off.

The court then proceeded to hear witnesses to give their testimonies.

A 50-year-old mosque preacher, named Jamal Sulaiman Qadir, described how his village came under attack on May 18, 1988 when warplanes dropped chemical bombs.

"That day was just like Doomsday. I could hear children crying for their parents and the bodies were piled up," Sulaiman said.

He said that he saw more than 20 bodies, including bodies for his relatives lying on the ground.

Three other witnesses also testified in the court.

Saddam and his codefendants are facing charge of genocide for their role in Anfal campaign against Iraq's Kurds in 1980s, in which some 182,000 people were allegedly killed or missing.

Meanwhile, the benchmark of the 100th death of American soldiers in October was announced on Monday.

A marine died Sunday from injuries sustained due to enemy action in the volatile Anbar Province, the U.S. military said.

It is the deadliest month for the U.S. military this year and the fourth highest death toll since the war began in March 2003. American forces attributed the high casualties to an upsurge of attacks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

It added to another blow to Bush's Republican Party shortly before the congressional election, which is seen by many as a referendum on the Iraq war.

Violence went on as a powerful explosion ripped through a crowd of laborers in the slums of the Shiite-dominated Sadr City in Baghdad, killing 26 and wounding 60.

"Up to 26 were killed and 60 others wounded when a makeshift bomb went off in the 55th Square at the Sadr City neighborhood where dozens of poor laborers gathered waiting for daily jobs," a police source told Xinhua.

Sadr City is a stronghold for the Mehdi army whose militias are loyal to the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.