I must say, this doesn’t sound like Saddam’s MO. What could he possibly gain from it? If it is determined that he is behind it, then he’s a dead man and he knows it. Saddam is not a fanatic martyr. Saddam is a very practical, very ruthless, and very selfish man. He wants to be ruler of Iraq, and perhaps conquer his neighbors and listen to the lamentation of their women.
He’s not the martyr type. He is not a religious man, he simply uses religion to manipulate his people. The Baath party started as an explicitly secular quasi-fascist movement. Saddam is not a true believer in anything except himself.
The advantage of this is that while Saddam may miscalculate at times and do silly things like invade his neighbors, and while he is a cold-blooded vicious bastard, he is at heart a rational man subject to rational punishment and reward.