BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Stunned supporters of Saddam Hussein rioted in a number of Iraqi cities as indications rose it would be some time before the captured former dictator faces trial for his actions over the past three decades.

President Bush said when asked if he had a personal message for Saddam: "Good riddance. The world is a better place without you...."

But Bush also warned Monday that "the terrorists in Iraq remain dangerous," shortly after suicide car bombings at Baghdad-area police stations killed the two attackers and seven other people and wounded 30.

U.S. troops killed 11 Iraqi guerrillas who tried to ambush their force Monday in the town of Samarra, 62 miles north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said Tuesday. U.S. forces suffered no casualties in the attack.

In the restive town of Falluja, 32 miles west of Baghdad, at least one Iraqi gunman was killed and a U.S. soldier was wounded in an exchange of fire during riots Monday night, U.S. military sources and witnesses said.

Witnesses said hundreds of pro-Saddam protesters overran the office of the U.S.-appointed mayor in Falluja and set ablaze the office of a small U.S.-backed political party.

U.S. military sources said during the melee gunmen fired at U.S. forces, wounding one soldier. Soldiers returned fire, killing one gunman and wounding two. Witnesses said three Iraqis died in the clash, which they said lasted for three hours.

The protest in Falluja was one of several demonstrations by supporters of Saddam in the mainly Sunni Muslim areas of Baghdad and towns to the west and north.

Bush said the United States and Iraq would organize a fair and public trial for the 66-year-old Saddam, but Iraqis would decide whether he would face possible execution.

"We will work with the Iraqis to develop a way to try him that will stand international scrutiny," Bush told a Washington news conference, leaving no room for a U.N. role in judging Saddam.

Saddam was captured by U.S. troops Saturday after a tip-off led them to a hole on a farm near his hometown of Tikrit, north of Baghdad. He is being held as a prisoner of war.

The current head of Iraq's U.S.-appointed Governing Council, Abdelaziz al-Hakim, said during a visit to Paris Monday that Saddam could be tried by Iraqis in a special court set up by the Council last week and could face the death penalty.

"BROKEN MAN"

Another Governing Council member who saw Saddam Sunday said he had found "a very broken man."

"He was, I think, psychologically ruined and very demoralized," Muwaffaq al-Rubaiye said. "He felt safer with the Americans." In Israel, security sources said Israeli commandos had planned to assassinate Saddam in 1992, but aborted the mission before it received government approval after five soldiers were killed in training.

The commandos were to have been dropped inside Iraq and to fire a 'smart' missile at Saddam if he attended the funeral of an uncle who was thought to be near death, the sources said. Military censors lifted a ban on reporting the plan Monday, over a decade after the 1992 training accident.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari is expected to present to the U.N. Security Council Tuesday the timetable that the Iraqi Governing Council and the U.S.-led coalition have devised for a handover of power to a provisional government in June and a constitution and general elections by the end of 2005.

"I think an affirmation or affirmations of support for the political, economic and security development of Iraq would be most welcome indeed, and most appropriate under the circumstances," U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Negroponte said.

The 15-nation council, sharply divided over the war, is considering a report on the U.N.'s future role in Iraq by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who said Saddam's capture removed a "rather long shadow" over the transition process.

Annan said he did not support the death penalty for the former Iraqi leader ousted in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq launched on March 20. He added any trial court had to meet international norms and standards.

NO BRITISH ROLE

Britain, Washington's closest ally in the invasion, also said Monday it would play no part in any trial that might lead to Saddam's execution.

A senior State Department official who asked not to be named said Washington reserved the right to bring its own charges against Saddam. He did not say how this might be done.

He emphasized that a vast number of issues had to be resolved before a trial could take place.

These include deciding whether international or local courts should have jurisdiction, under which statutes he might be tried, how to ensure his safety if he is placed in Iraqi custody, how to protect witnesses who might testify against him and how to treat claims of nations like Iran and Israel.

Asked how long it might be before Saddam faced a judge, the official said: "It will take some time. It's not weeks away."