KARBALA, Dec 27: Iraqi guerillas killed six soldiers of the occupation forces and seven Iraqis and wounded 129 people in a suicide car bomb, machinegun and mortar fire rampage in Karbala on Saturday.

The dead troops were identified as four Bulgarians and two Thais.

The guerillas launched their assault with an attack on 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.

“At about 1pm today there were multiple attacks on coalition forces around Karbala,” said Hungarian Major Dezso Kiss, attached to the Polish-led multinational division, responsible for the city.

“These attacks included four suicide car bombs, mortars and machinegun fire,” he said.

Four Bulgarian soldiers died and 27 were wounded in the attacks, Bulgarian Deputy Defence Minister Ilko Dimitrov said in Sofia.

In Warsaw, the Polish military spokesman for the multinational force said two Thai soldiers had also died in the attacks.

Adam Stasinski said 27 soldiers of different nationalities had been wounded.

An Iraqi doctor said seven Iraqis were killed, including a student and a police major, named Sejjad al Sharifi, while another 102 were wounded.

Among the Iraqi injured were four members of the Facilities Protection Service, a security force trained by the Americans, and 20 students at Karbala’s university, situated next to a Bulgarian military base, the doctor said.

Karbala Governor Akram al Yasseri, who was slightly hurt in the attack on the city hall, said a suicide bomber exploded a tanker outside the Bulgarian military base by the university after an exchange of fire.

“It was a suicide attack in the course of which the driver was killed,” he said.

Mr Yasseri said he was in the middle of a meeting when a car bomb blew up by the city hall.

“We were meeting with community leaders at the city hall when we heard an explosion across the town around the university. Ten minutes later, our building shook and glass flew everywhere.”

The attack wounded several people who had come to the hall on routine business, he said.

Five Karbala governing council members or employees counted among the wounded.

“The driver had fled his car ahead of the explosion but was still killed by the blast,” the governor said.

The third attack was on the Polish military base just outside the city on the road north to Hilla, Mr Yasseri said.

The Polish commander of the force, Gen Andrzej Tyszkiewicz, in comments broadcast live on Poland’s TVN television, described the strikes as “well planned, coordinated, massive and simultaneous”.

“The attacks were made with cars packed with dynamite, mortars and automatic weapons fire,” he said.

Occupation forces deployed rapid reaction troops as counterattack, including 10 helicopters, the general added.—AFP