Multinational forces should remain in Iraq until the country is able to handle its own security, the interim Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi has said. "We would like the multinational forces to remain in Iraq for some time until Iraq is capable of handling its own security problems," he told BBC's Breakfast with Frost programme on Sunday. He gave no time frame but said he hoped this would be achieved "as quickly as possible". Allawi also said he backs a UN resolution on the transfer of sovereignty to the new government. He said the resolution currently being debated by the UN would help "secure Iraq from its enemies", the BBC reported. "We'd like the UN to help us - we're adamant that multinational forces should be employed in Iraq." Following controversy over who would remain in ultimate control of US troops in Iraq after the handover of political power at the end of June, the BBC further reported that Allawi said although he did not like to use the word 'veto', "there should be co-operation on both offensive and defensive operations Allawi's interim government was appointed in a process overseen by the United Nations. It has seven months to make its mark before Iraqis get their say in national elections in January. It formally takes over from occupation authorities on 30 June. **Bloody day for Iraqi police*** At least 17 Iraqi policemen and members of the security forces have been killed in separate attacks across the occupied country during the last 24 hours. A car bomb first exploded on Sunday outside an Iraqi security force base in Taji, north of Baghdad, killing six Iraqis, said a US military official at the scene. At least 20 others, including US occupation soldiers, were injured. A fuel truck first exploded in front of the centre, civil defence sources told Aljazeera. Another car then blew up, causing more casualties than initially announced but it was unclear how many more were hurt. Anti-occupation fighters have repeatedly targeted Iraqi police and security officers. On Saturday, a rocket-propelled grenade attack on Iraqis queuing up outside an army recruitment centre in the northern city of Mosul wounded 17 people. **Violence elsewhere*** Near the northern city of Kirkuk, an Iraqi policeman and a civilian were killed and nine other officers wounded, five of them seriously, police said. The bomb went off in Tuz Khurmatu, 75km south of Kirkuk, as a police convoy passed a checkpoint on a road frequently used by US occupation troops travelling between Kirkuk and Tikrit. South of the capital, anti-occupation fighters attacked a police station south of Baghdad on Saturday, killing at least 10 Armed men disguised as police entered the building in the town of Musayyab and forced policemen into a cell at gunpoint before planting explosives. When locals tried to free the police, the explosives were detonated, witnesses said. Elsewhere in Iraq unknown armed men launched a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) at a US convoy on the main highway north of Falluja, reported Aljazeera. One of the trucks was seen burning but there were no immediate reports of casualties. **PHOTO CAPTION*** File photo showing Iyad Alawi, president of the Iraqi governing council, during a news conference in Putrajaya, in Malaysia on October 15, 2003. (REUTERS)