BAGHDAD -- Gunmen ambushed a bus carrying unarmed Iraqis to work at a U.S. ammo dump near Tikrit yesterday, killing 17 and raising the toll from three days of intensified and bloody insurgent attacks to at least 70 Iraqi dead and dozens wounded. The attacks, focused in Baghdad and cities to the north, appeared to be aimed at scaring off those who co-operate with the American military -- whether police, national guardsmen, Kurdish militias, or ordinary people just looking for a paycheque.

The violence came just weeks after the United States launched major offensives aimed at suppressing guerrillas ahead of crucial elections set for Jan. 30. Later yesterday, several small Sunni Muslim groups joined more influential Sunni clerics in demanding the vote be postponed by six months.

Yesterday's bloodshed began when gunmen opened fire at the bus as it dropped off Iraqis employed by coalition forces at a weapons dump in Tikrit, north of Baghdad, said Capt. Bill Coppernoll, spokesperson for the Tikrit-based U.S. 1st Infantry Division. Coppernoll said 17 people died and were 13 wounded.

Survivors said about seven guerrillas were involved, emptying their clips into the bus before fleeing. The bodies of the victims were brought to a morgue too small to hold them all; some were left in the street.

About an hour later, a suicide car bomber drove into an Iraqi National Guard checkpoint in Beiji, about 120 kilometres to the north, detonating his explosives-packed vehicle, Coppernoll said. Gunmen then opened fire on the position. Three guardsmen, including a company commander, were killed and 18 wounded, Coppernoll said.

Also yesterday, guerrillas ambushed a coalition patrol in Latifiyah, south of Baghdad, and attacked Iraqi guardsmen patrolling near Samarra, north of Baghdad. Two Iraqis were killed and 10 wounded.

The attacks seem to be an orchestrated campaign by Iraq's Sunni-led insurgency to strike any Iraqis who co-operate with the Americans. On Friday, a police station was hit and 16 men were killed. On Saturday, suicide car bombs hit another police station, killing six, and a bus carrying Kurdish militiamen, killing seven.

The raids also appear designed to resupply the insurgents' arsenal. Rebels behind Friday's attack looted the police armoury, and yesterday, police said armed men stormed a station about 50 kilometres south of Fallujah and stole two police cars and a large cache of weapons.

That has not stopped the coalition from arming Iraqi forces. The U.S.-led Multinational Security Transition Command said Iraqi security forces received deliveries in November of 5,400 AK-47s, about 2,000 9mm Glock pistols, 78 rocket-propelled grenade launchers and millions of rounds of ammunition.

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