BAGHDAD, June 4 (AFP) - 18h14 - Iraqi President Jalal Talabani called Saturday on Kurdish regional deputies to set a democratic example for the war-torn nation, while hundreds of suspected insurgents were rounded up in Baghdad.Meanwhile, the judge who is to try Saddam Hussein said the former dictator was in low spirits as his trial date approached.

And Iraqi and US forces claimed more anti-insurgent successes for Operation Lightning, a tactically focused plan to flush out fighters that 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 the 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.

UN envoy Ashraf Qazi also addressed the deputies, congratulating them and urging them to show restraint.

The Kurdish people "suffered political isolation, economic deprivations and brutal repression including genocidal onslaughts during the era of the previous regime," he said.

Now Kurdish leaders "have the opportunity, capability and dare I say obligation to provide a beacon of hope, to provide an example to the rest of Iraq."

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 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 inside the city because a protective ring had been thrown around it ahead of raids on "pinpoint targets".

Many of the assaults took place in towns up to 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the capital, according to Colonel Adnan Abdel Rahman of the interior ministry.

Wright said the operation would continue until "we see a drastic decrease in violence across the city", which was already beginning to breath easier.

Many insurgents are believed to be Iraqi Sunnis who lost out when US-led forces ousted Saddam in April 2003, but Rahman said those arrested in the past 48 hours included four Sudanese, an Egyptian, a Jordanian and a Syrian.

In Baghdad, Iraqi forces took their fight to insurgents, not only making arrests but also seizing stockpiled arms and munitions.

"The Iraqi Army is proving each day that their performance and ability to coordinate operations is improving," said US Captain Brendan Hobbs.

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 operation so far.

In continuing violence, however, 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.

For his part, Judge Raed Juhi 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."

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

Earlier this week Talabani said he hoped Saddam, who was captured in December 2004, would face trial within two months.

Juhi said 12 charges had been finalised and that the deposed leader would be tried alone in some cases and alongside cohorts in others.

"Saddam Hussein has his complete mental faculties and has been neither constrained nor pressured during questioning," the judge added.

Saddam is being held by US forces at a base near Baghdad along with 11 former high-ranking regime members and faces 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.