Naseer Al-Nahr, Arab News Staff

BAGHDAD, 28 December 2003 — In a massive and coordinated assault on coalition forces, Iraqi rebels yesterday killed six coalition troops and seven Iraqis in the southern Shiite city of Karbala. Four of the dead soldiers were from Bulgaria and two from Thailand. Of the seven Iraqis killed, six were policemen.

Attackers detonated four suicide car bombs and fired mortar shells and grenades, wounding at least 37 other coalition soldiers, including five Americans, US Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said in Baghdad. Some 135 Iraqi civilians and police officers were also wounded, said Ali Al-Arzawi, deputy director of Karbala General Hospital.

Insurgents launched their assault at around 1 p.m., attacking Karbala’s city hall and two military bases in the worst bloodshed in Iraq since the capture of Saddam Hussein two weeks ago. It was also the deadliest assault on the 9,000-strong Polish-led multinational division since its soldiers arrived in the south-central provinces of Karbala, Najaf, Wasit, Qadisiyah and Babil in September.

“It was a coordinated, massive attack planned on a big scale and intended to do much harm,” Polish Maj. Gen. Andrzej Tyszkiewicz said from his headquarters at Camp Babylon, east of Karbala.

He said three of the car bombers were shot before they could drive the explosive-packed vehicles into the bases, both Bulgarian, or the damage could have been much more severe. The fourth bomb exploded in front of the regional governor’s office.

Tyszkiewicz did not identify those killed and wounded by nationality. But Bulgaria’s deputy defense minister, Ilko Dimitrov, said four Bulgarian soldiers were killed and 27 were wounded as a car bomb exploded at one of the Bulgarian camps.

Thai government spokesman Jakkrapob Penkae said two Thais were killed. A senior Thai Army officer said the two were on guard duty at a military base checkpoint when the car rammed into the wall of the camp.

Dimitrov said some 485 Bulgarian troops in the area were being evacuated because their bases had been destroyed, and that the Defense Ministry had lost communication with them. Two men were detained for the car bomb that blew up in front the governor’s office, said Lt. Col. Tom Evans deputy commander of the US Army’s 18th Military Police Brigade.

Local residents said a fuel truck tried to smash its way into one of the Polish bases before bursting into flame, killing several Iraqis. “We were having lunch... when an explosion shook the place. The kids playing outside were hurt, some were killed,” said Ali Abdul Zahra, whose 15-year-old nephew was killed in the blast.

Helicopters evacuated the military casualties to a nearby base before many were taken to field hospitals.

The Karbala area is controlled by a multinational force including Bulgarians under Polish command.

The Karbala attacks came on a day that also saw clashes between US and rebel forces in the increasingly volatile north.

US soldiers killed four Iraqis in the northern city of Mosul after coming under rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) and small arms fire, US military officials said.

Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division, which controls a large swathe of northern Iraq, said they were checking for improvised explosive devices which guerrillas have used against US troops when they came under attack.

Staff Sgt. Eldon Noble said US troops returned fire, destroying a car from which they had been attacked and killing its four occupants. Iraqi paramedics pulled charred corpses from the car, which US soldiers said was carrying RPG rounds.

In other attacks in the country, rebels detonated three homemade bombs that set aflame a fuel depot and injured six American soldiers.

Still, military officers said the number of attacks had decreased significantly. Kimmitt told a news conference that attacks had gone down from about 50 a day in mid-September to an average of about 15 a day that had spiked to 18 in the space of two hours on Christmas Day.

— Additional input from agencies