BAGHDAD, Sept 15 (AFP) - 12h54 - Ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein will likely be tried later this year over the massacre of Kurds unless he is found guilty and hanged immediately at the conclusion of a first case opening in October, a source close to the Iraq's Special Tribunal said Thursday.

"The case is progressing well," the source said, referring to accusations against Saddam over the 1987-88 "Anfal" operation when 180,000 people are reported to have been killed in a brutal campaign to suppress rebellious Kurds in Iraq's north.

"The investigating judge has gathered lots of very important evidence" such as audiotapes and clues found in mass graves, the source said.

Saddam and seven former henchmen, including his former vice president and secret police chief, are to go on trial on October 19 over the 1982 killing of 143 Shiite Muslims after an attempt on his life in the village of Dujail.

If they are condemned to death "the sentence must be carried out 30 days after the exhaustion of all appeals," the source said.

Asked if it were possible Saddam could face the hangman immediately after all appeals are exhausted, the source said: "Certainly, it's a possibility but it is hard to predict."

Iraq's Kurdish President Jalal Talabani said recently that Saddam had "confessed" to some of his alleged crimes and deserves to die "100 times".

The confessions related to "hand-signed orders" by Saddam concerning the Anfal operation. "There are tonnes of documents incriminating Saddam Hussein," Talabani added.

The tribunal source said Saddam's lawyer, Khalil Dulaimi, had been given access to all prosecution documents.

"Dulaimi has had access to his clients whenever he asked for it since the beginning. By any standards, attorney and clients have full access to each other," he added.

"His lawyers can bring international experts, (Saddam) can seek to have other people to meet with him, or he can bring other lawyers. No one who Saddam recognizes as his attorney has been denied access," he added.

Saddam's lawyers had previously complained about not been given access to evidence or informed of the charges against their client who has been in US custody since his capture in December 2003.