Sofia Says US Troops Killed Bulgarian Soldier In Iraq, Demands Explanation

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Sofia Says US Troops Killed Bulgarian Soldier In Iraq, Demands Explanation
UPDATE 2: President Summons US Ambassador
07.03.2005

SOFIA (bnn) - Staunch U.S. ally Bulgaria on Monday demanded explanation from Washington after a probe showed American troops shot and killed a Bulgarian soldier in Iraq by negligence.

“This is a grave incident and the confirmation of the facts leads to the conclusion of problems in coordination and operative interaction between the allies,” President Georgi Parvanov told U.S. Ambassador James Pardew, whom he summoned to his headquarters. "Bulgaria is conducting a serious investigation in the case and insists those guilty to assume their responsibility."

Bulgarian Army Jr. Sgt. Gardi Gardev died of gunshot wounds in the chest last Friday afternoon as a Bulgarian Army patrol came under fire in the Iraqi town of Hamzah. A probe disproved initial suspicions that rebels ambushed the patrol, Defense Minister Nikolay Svinarov said.

"The results from the investigation ... give us enough grounds to assume that the death of Jr. Sgt. Gardev was caused by friendly fire," Svinarov said in a statement.

He said U.S. troops located some 150 meters (164 yards) from the spot of the killing sprayed with bullets the three-Humvee Bulgarian patrol after it fired warning shots in the air to halt a nearing Iraqi car.

Gardev was the eighth Bulgarian soldier to be killed in Iraq. A U.S. patrol last Friday shot by mistake at a car and killed Italian secret service agent Nicola Calipari, while he was taking to safety journalist Giuliana Sgrena, whom captors had released.

Meanwhile a Sofia court was due Monday to look into a leva 300, 000 (EUR154, 000, US$201, 000) claim against the state filed by parents of another Bulgarian soldier killed in Iraq.

Svilen Kirov was one of five Bulgarian soldiers, who died in a truck bomb attack on their camp in the city of Karbala in Dec. 2003.

Bulgaria is contributing a 450-strong light infantry battalion to a multinational division under Polish command in central southern Iraq.

The Bulgarian troops are stationed in the city of Diwaniyah, center of the Qadissiyah province, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the place where Gardev was killed.