BAGHDAD, 4 September 2005 — Insurgents gunned down 19 Iraqi police and soldiers yesterday in clashes around Baquba, as US and Iraqi forces intensified offensive operations in a rebel-infested city that the Americans subdued last year — only to have the Iraqis lose control.

Eight policemen died in a pair of shootouts in Baquba, 55 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad, officials said. Six policemen and two soldiers were killed in another gunbattle in the Baquba suburb, officials said.

Three Iraqi soldiers also died yesterday when their convoy was attacked by gunmen near Adhaim, 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Baquba, police said. To the north, fighting raged for a second day yesterday in the outskirts of Tal Afar, an ethnically mixed insurgent stronghold 420 kilometers (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad.

US and Iraqi officials urged civilians to leave affected areas of the city, a sign that the Americans are preparing a major assault.

US forces crushed insurgents in Tal Afar last fall, leaving only about 500 American soldiers behind and handing control over to the Iraqis. But Iraqi authorities lost control of the city, and insurgent ranks swelled. That forced the US command to shift the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment from the Baghdad area to Tal Afar to restore control.

Yesterday, US and Iraqi forces were firing at insurgents on the western side of the city, Iraqi officials said.

In another development, Saddam Hussein’s chief attorney dismissed statements from the Iraqi government that the former president’s trial would begin on Oct. 19 as “invalid” and said yesterday he needed “years” just to read the evidence.

“The defense team has not been informed about the decision and has not signed it. It is invalid,” Khalil Dulaimi told Reuters, adding that in any case he did not recognize the legitimacy of the Special Tribunal set up to try Saddam and his aides.

He also complained that there was not enough time to study all the documents related to the trial: “It will take years to study the 36 tons of files.” It seems unlikely the lawyer’s protest will be heeded. Saddam and several aides will go on trial on Oct. 19, an Iraqi government source said on Friday.

The process, for the killing of dozens of Shiite villagers at Dujail in 1982, will therefore be starting just a few days after a referendum on a new constitution that the US-backed authorities intend to bury the legacy of his dictatorship.

The source, who is not attached to the Special Tribunal actually trying the deposed president and his aides for crimes against humanity, forecast a quick trial and execution. “After what he did, how can we not execute him?” he said.

Elsewhere, gunmen abducted three Iraqi contractors after they left the US-run Taji air base some 15 kilometers (10 miles) north of Baghdad, police Lt. Miqdad Al-Khazragi said. US and Iraqi soldiers killed one insurgent and arrested 10 others in operations starting late Friday in the Mosul area, the military said.

US and Iraqi officials had hoped that a new constitution, finalized Aug. 28 after weeks of intense negotiations, would help bring Iraq’s factions together.