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| Iraq |
| Bulgaria sends 154 troops to Iraq |
| 2006-03-29 |
| SOFIA - Bulgaria, which pulled its troops out of Iraq last year, dispatched Wednesday a new contingent on a ”peacekeeping and humanitarian” mission to guard an Iranian refugee camp north of Baghdad. The 120-troop contingent and 34 supporting military personnel will be in charge of “policing and administering the repatriation centre inside the Ashraf camp,” 70 kilometres (45 miles) north of the capital Baghdad, a defence ministry statement said. They will be equipped with “non-lethal arms,” such as gas sprays, electroshock guns and light and sound signal grenades, it added. The camp hosts about 3,500 Iranian refugees, most of whom belong to Iran’s main opposition movement, the People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI), which the European Union and the United States have listed as a terrorist organisation. The US-led coalition in Iraq forced the refugees to disarm and sent them to the Ashraf camp in 2003. The Bulgarian press has criticised the new mission, with the weekly Capital comparing it to “protecting ex-terrorists.” “This mission will be less dangerous” than those already completed by Bulgarian troops since joining the coalition in Iraq in 2003, Defence Minister Vesselin Bliznakov said during the official sending-off ceremony Wednesday in the central town of Kazanlak. Previous missions included protecting convoys, training Iraqi troops and participating in reconstruction projects in Kerbala and Diwaniyah, south of Baghdad. Bulgaria has lost 13 soldiers and six civilians since it began operations in Iraq. It withdrew a 360-strong contingent from Iraq in late December. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #2 "The US-led coalition in Iraq forced the refugees to disarm and sent them to the Ashraf camp in 2003." Just like Iran is doing with Sadr. |
| Posted by: plainslow 2006-03-29 15:51 |
| #1 Thanks, Bulgaria. Enjoy your new base! (Or the jobs/cash that come with a US military presence) |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2006-03-29 13:29 |