Saddam Hussein is expected to face trial as early as next month on charges of ordering genocide against Iraq's Kurdish population in the late 1980s, a prosecutor and a court official said.

They said an investigative judge was expected to hand the central case against the former leader over for prosecution this week. Saddam's lawyers will be notified that he could face trial for what is known as the Anfal campaign as early as next month.

"Within days the case will be moved to us," chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi told Reuters.

Saddam is currently on trial in connection with the killings of 148 Shias in the town of Dujail after an assassination attempt on the former Iraqi president there in 1982.