BAGHDAD, Feb 3: Iraqi guerillas hit back on Thursday with raids that killed 24 people after US President George Bush said American troops would give Iraqi security forces greater responsibility in countering militants.

Twelve soldiers were killed in an ambush in northern Iraq on Wednesday and other attacks were staged across the country on Thursday - ending a brief lull in guerrilla attacks after the Jan 30 election.

Highlighting Sunday's election in his annual State of the Union speech, Mr Bush said "the new political situation in Iraq opens a new phase of our work in that country".

He added: "We will increasingly focus our efforts on helping prepare more capable Iraqi security forces, forces with skilled officers, and an effective command structure. "As those forces become more self-reliant and take on greater security responsibilities, America and its coalition partners will increasingly be in a supporting role."

The mother of a US marine who was killed in Iraq and an Iraqi rights activist tearfully hugged each other as the president honoured those "who died for our freedom" in a joint session of the US Congress.

President Bush rebuffed mounting demands to set a timetable to withdraw the 150,000 US troops in Iraq. But the latest guerilla assaults over the past 24 hours highlighted the enormous task facing the new Iraqi security forces in coming months.

Guerillas shot dead 12 Iraqi soldiers, who were guarding oil pipelines, near the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk on Wednesday night. On Thursday morning, one Iraqi was killed and four were wounded as they drove to work on a US base at Baquba, a stronghold north of Baghdad.

In northern Iraq, a mortar attack on a US position fell short and killed two civilians and wounded six in Tall Afar, west of the flash point city of Mosul, the US military said.

North of Baghdad, three Iraqi soldiers were killed and three wounded in a bomb attack in Yathrib. A soldier and a woman were killed in a bomb blast targeting an army convoy at Shorgat and the body of a driver working for the US military was found in the Tuz region.

In a rare case of civilians fighting back, villagers of Al Mudhiryah, south of Baghdad, killed five guerillas who attacked them for taking part in the elections, police said. Two US marines were also killed on Wednesday. -AFP