GUNMEN ambushed a bus full of Iraqis working for the US military, killing 17 civilians and wounding 13 in Tikrit yesterday, while a car bomb and a gun attack killed four members of the Iraqi security forces elsewhere in northern Iraq.

The Iraqi Red Crescent Society withdrew from the battleground city of Fallujah today amid concerns over continuing insecurity, the organisation’s chief said.

The sons of Saddam Hussein, Oday and Qusay, were buried in the family cemetery in their home town of Tikrit this morning, the Iraqi Red Crescent Society and the US military said.

The US military handed over the bodies of Saddam Hussein’s sons, Oday and Qusay, to the Iraqi Red Crescent Society, which is taking the corpses for burial in their hometown of Tikrit, the US Army said today.