SCORES of gunmen firing mortars and grenades stormed Iraqi security posts in Falluja on Saturday, killing 22 people including 14 police men in the latest audacious strike on forces key to the transfer of power in Iraq.

Police said their station and an Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (ICDC) headquarters as well as the mayor?s office were hit in a coordinated assault by about 70 guerrillas which left a total of 22 people dead, including four attackers and four civilians.

At least 35 people were wounded in the attack on the ICDC compound, where US forces? Middle East commander General John Abizaid escaped a grenade attack during a visit two days ago. US troops stayed out of the fighting.

Police said 20 to 85 prisoners escaped from jails in the police station during the attack, the latest in a series of strikes on US-backed Iraqi forces apparently designed to undermine US plans to hand back power to Iraqis by June 30.

?(They) fired mortars, explosives and light machineguns from four directions. Their weapons were more powerful than our Kalashnikovs,? said police officer Barazan Abu Issa, who was outside the police station when it was attacked. Police said some officers were unarmed at the time of the attacks, which signaled growing boldness in a guerrilla campaign against US and other foreign forces and, increasingly, against Iraqis seen as collaborators.

Guerrillas have killed more than 600 Iraqi security and police personnel since April in an attempt to undermine US efforts to prepare Iraqis to take over security of the country.

Kurd leader sees Council role if no vote

The violence in Falluja came during one of the bloodiest weeks since US-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein on April 9, including two suicide bombs that killed at least 100 Iraqis joining the police or a new Iraqi army.

Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari, attending talks in Kuwait with six neighboring states, called for tight security to stop cross-border infiltration by foreign guerrillas blamed by US authorities for some of the attacks on US forces and Iraqis.

The survival of the Iraqi forces is key to the US plan to hand back power by June 30, a date to which President Bush, facing a presidential election in November, is committed.

The United States plans to hand over sovereignty to a transitional Iraqi administration by the start of July and helped convince a UN. envoy to assess calls for an early vote. The call for elections has been spearheaded by Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most influential religious authority for Shi?ites, who has demanded an elected government but signaled he may respect the UN opinion.

Saddam?s hideout sealed with concrete slab

The US has covered the small dirt hole that was the last refuge of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein with a heavy slab of concrete to keep tourists and other visitors out, the US military. Engineers in the US Army?s 4th Infantry Division covered the hole on February 4, after commanders in Baghdad rebuffed a request to destroy it to keep it from becoming a tourist attraction or shrine to Saddam, an army spokesman said. The cover is 3 feet by 2 feet and weighs about 300 pounds, Master Sergeant Robert Cargie told Reuters. ?This is a temporary measure, designed to allow time for ultimate decisions to be made on the future of the site,? Cargie said.

The Army maintains the decision on the hole?s future is up to US military commanders and the Iraqi Governing Council. The hole, which was until recently a de rigueur stop for soldiers and visiting dignitaries, has not been open for visits for the past two weeks. About 600 4th Infantry Division soldiers and U.S. special forces captured a bearded and bedraggled Saddam in December inside the 5 feet long hole, which had only a strip light and ventilation fan inside.

Nearby was a small mud hut where Saddam was staying, in which soldiers found two beds, a refrigerator containing lemonade and hot dogs, ointment and an open box of Belgian chocolates. The hole is on a farm beside the Tigris River about nine miles south of Saddam?s hometown and power base in Tikrit, which is now where the 4th Infantry Division bases itself.