The killing of Khamis al-Obaidi, the No 2 on Saddam's team, dealt a fresh blow to efforts to try Saddam for crimes during his Sunni-led rule and is likely to fuel complaints of sectarian violence crippling a fair trial.

Saddam and seven others are on trial on charges of crimes against humanity stemming from a crackdown on Shiites.

A police captain said Obaidi was shot eight times, and there were signs of torture - both his arms were broken.

The chief prosecutor in the trial, Jaafar al-Moussawi, said the killing would "not affect or delay the trial and we will defy terrorism." It came two days after Moussawi demanded death for Saddam and three top aides for their roles in killings of Shiites that followed a 1982 attempt on Saddam's life.

Witnesses said three gunmen had dumped the bullet-riddled body of Obaidi Wednesday morning at a roundabout under a poster of a Shiite cleric killed by Saddam agents in 1999.

"They fired into the air and said `This is the fate of Baathists,"' said a vegetable seller whose shop is close to where the body was dumped. The area is not far from Sadr City, a stronghold of militias from the long-oppressed Shiite majority now in power.

The body of Saadoun Janabi, the first Saddam lawyer to be killed, was dumped in the same area. Neighbors said he was abducted by men who claimed to be Interior Ministry forces, which are infiltrated by Shiite militias.

Unlike other defense lawyers, Obaidi, who also represented Saddam's half-brother and Barzan al-Tikriti, lived in Iraq. He was in court Monday.

The trial is taking place against a backdrop of sectarian bloodletting. Saddam and his aides, along with many of their counsel, are from the Sunni Arab minority which accuses the Shiite- led government of persecuting them.

Obaidi said last year he preferred to stay in Iraq during court recesses, but "whatever will be will be," he said. Defense lawyers have complained that there were members of a Shiite militia tied to the government in the public gallery making threats against them.

The day after the trial started, defense lawyer Janabi was abducted from his office and killed. And in November 2005, gunmen killed fellow lawyer Adil al-Zubeidi and wounded a colleague.

Also Wednesday, militants said in a Web posting they would kill four Russian diplomats seized in Baghdad 18 days ago as Moscow had failed to pull troops out of Chechnya. REUTERS