BAGHDAD, June 5 (AFP) - 2h45 - Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has called on Kurdish regional deputies to set a democratic example for the war-torn nation, while more suspected insurgents were rounded up in Baghdad.Meanwhile, the judge who is to try Saddam Hussein said the former dictator was becoming depressed as his trial date approached.

Iraqi and US forces claimed anti-insurgent successes for Operation Lightning, a tactically focused plan to flush out fighters who have sown terror in Baghdad with car bombs and drive-by shootings.

Talibani, Iraq's first Kurdish president, addressed lawmakers at the inaugural session of their regional parliament in the northern city of Arbil, urging them to establish a democratic and federal system.

"Your democratically elected parliament faces a critical period in the history of Iraq," Talabani said, speaking in Arabic.

"Our sacred task is to draft a permanent constitution that guarantees equality for all of Iraqi society," he said, reiterating that all ethnic and religious groups were needed to draw up the vital document that is to be put to a referendum in October.

The first session of the assembly opened more than four months after general elections, following talks between Talabani and rival Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani who was recently chosen as regional president.

Iraqi Kurds are mostly Sunni Muslims, comprise nearly 20 percent of the country's 26-million population and believe strongly in a federal state.

Meanwhile, US Major Wes Wright told AFP that troops, including some from his 3,000-man light infantry brigade in southwestern Baghdad, had made 109 arrests on Saturday and 84 the day before.

He said a massive military presence was not apparent in the city because a protective ring had been thrown around it ahead of raids on "pinpoint targets".

Many insurgents are believed to be Iraqi Sunnis who lost power when US-led forces ousted Saddam in April 2003.

Almost 700 Iraqis were killed throughout the country in May, while Iraqi authorities have given a figure of nearly 900 insurgents detained and 28 killed in the continuing operation in Baghdad.

Violence, however, also continued. Three Iraqi soldiers were killed in a suicide car bomb attack in Balad, north of Baghdad, and a policeman was shot dead by unknown attackers in Samarra, further north.

Another Iraqi was killed in southwestern Baghdad and his attackers later wounded two policemen by rigging the victim's car with explosives, an interior ministry source said.

And in the northern city of Mosul, a police officer was shot by gunmen in a drive-by shooting, and a suicide car bomber later killed two police and wounded seven at a checkpoint on the road to Syria, police sources said.

Judge Raed Juhi, who is to try Saddam, told the Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat that the "ex-president's morale is low because he realises the volume of accusations for which he will be judged."

Saddam "is to appear before the Iraq Special Tribunal in two months, as soon as the charges are legally finalised," he said.

Saddam is being held by US forces at a base near Baghdad along with 11 former high-ranking regime members, on an array of charges of crimes against humanity, including alleged use of chemical weapons against the Kurds.

In other developments, a US-Iraqi operation unearthed dozens of artifacts looted from Baghdad's National Museum during the chaos which followed the March 2003 US-led invasion. The haul was described as "a treasure chest of Iraqi historical significance."

And Iraqi Airways launched regular service between Baghdad and the southern city of Basra, saying flights to London would follow.