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Bulgaria Says Soldier Killed by U.S. Troops in Iraq
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces in Iraq, already implicated in the killing of an Italian secret agent, faced more "friendly fire" embarrassment on Monday when Bulgaria said they had probably shot dead one of its soldiers.
The controversy raised questions over whether U.S. troops are over-zealous in their efforts to crack down on insurgents, who killed at least 23 people in fresh attacks on Monday.
The Bulgarian soldier was killed in southern Iraq on Friday evening, around the same time that U.S. forces in Baghdad opened fire on a vehicle taking kidnapped Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena to the airport shortly after her captors freed her.
Sgrena was wounded in the shoulder and secret agent Nicola Calipari, who played a key role in her release, was killed. Italy laid on an emotional state funeral in Rome on Monday for Calipari, who died attempting to shield Sgrena.
Bulgarian Defense Minister Nikolai Svinarov said an investigation into the death of the Bulgarian soldier showed he was probably accidentally killed by American troops.
"Someone started shooting at our patrol from the west, and in the same direction, 150 meters (yards) away, there was a unit from the U.S. army," he told a news conference.
"The result gives us enough grounds to believe the death of rifleman Gurdi Gurdev was caused by friendly fire."
Svinarov said the Bulgarian army's chief of staff had written to General Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. joint chiefs of staff, asking for an investigation.
The U.S. military had no immediate comment.
Many Iraqis say U.S. forces are too quick to open fire and often kill innocent civilians. The U.S. military says it does all it can to minimize the risk of innocent Iraqis being killed.
ANGER IN ITALY
The U.S. military says the Italian vehicle was traveling at high speed and ignored repeated instructions to stop.
But Sgrena, who works for the Rome-based communist newspaper Il Manifesto, has disputed that account, as have several Italian politicians. Some say the car was deliberately shot at.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, one of the staunchest allies of President Bush (news - web sites) over the Iraq war, summoned the U.S. ambassador in Rome after the incident.
Bush has promised a full investigation of what White House official Dan Bartlett called a "horrific accident."
Although the governments of Italy and Bulgaria supported the war in Iraq, a large proportion of their people opposed it. Some 75 percent of Bulgarians disagree with U.S.-led military operations in Iraq, according to opinion polls.
SUICIDE ATTACKS
In Balad, north of Baghdad, a suicide bomber blew up his car outside an army officer's house, killing at least 12 people, hospital officials and police said.
In the nearby town of Baquba, insurgents attacked soldiers and police with a suicide bomb, mortars and land mines, killing at least 10 people. Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility.
"The mujahideen ambushed a unit of the apostate guards in Baquba ... and a brave lion carried out an attack on the riffraff and turned them into scattered fragments," Al Qaeda Organization for Holy War in Iraq said in an Internet statement.
Police in Baquba, a mixed Sunni and Shi'ite town 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, said the attack began when five Iraqi soldiers were killed in an ambush. A suicide car bomb then hit police heading to reinforce the area, killing two. Three people were killed by roadside bombs.
In Baghdad, gunmen shot dead a policeman, police said.
In the northern city of Mosul, an Iraqi woman who had been a candidate in Jan. 30 elections for the Shi'ite alliance that topped the poll was shot dead outside her home on Sunday, alliance officials said. Hana Muhamasji, a university professor, was one of the few Sunni candidates on the alliance list.
Iraq's government issued new photographs on Monday of Zarqawi, showing him with short hair and a cropped beard. They are among only a handful of images of the shadowy militant.
The United States has offered $25 million for information leading to Zarqawi's capture or death. The Iraqi government says his network is crumbling and that his capture is close.
But Zarqawi's group said in an Internet statement on Monday that he was safe and in good health, and leading fresh attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7823911
The Bulgarian soldier was killed in southern Iraq on Friday evening, around the same time that U.S. forces in Baghdad opened fire on a vehicle taking kidnapped Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena to the airport shortly after her captors freed her.
Sgrena was wounded in the shoulder and secret agent Nicola Calipari, who played a key role in her release, was killed. Italy laid on an emotional state funeral in Rome on Monday for Calipari, who died attempting to shield Sgrena.
Bulgarian Defense Minister Nikolai Svinarov said an investigation into the death of the Bulgarian soldier showed he was probably accidentally killed by American troops.
"Someone started shooting at our patrol from the west, and in the same direction, 150 meters (yards) away, there was a unit from the U.S. army," he told a news conference.
"The result gives us enough grounds to believe the death of rifleman Gurdi Gurdev was caused by friendly fire."
Svinarov said the Bulgarian army's chief of staff had written to General Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. joint chiefs of staff, asking for an investigation.
The U.S. military had no immediate comment.
Many Iraqis say U.S. forces are too quick to open fire and often kill innocent civilians. The U.S. military says it does all it can to minimize the risk of innocent Iraqis being killed.
ANGER IN ITALY
The U.S. military says the Italian vehicle was traveling at high speed and ignored repeated instructions to stop.
But Sgrena, who works for the Rome-based communist newspaper Il Manifesto, has disputed that account, as have several Italian politicians. Some say the car was deliberately shot at.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, one of the staunchest allies of President Bush (news - web sites) over the Iraq war, summoned the U.S. ambassador in Rome after the incident.
Bush has promised a full investigation of what White House official Dan Bartlett called a "horrific accident."
Although the governments of Italy and Bulgaria supported the war in Iraq, a large proportion of their people opposed it. Some 75 percent of Bulgarians disagree with U.S.-led military operations in Iraq, according to opinion polls.
SUICIDE ATTACKS
In Balad, north of Baghdad, a suicide bomber blew up his car outside an army officer's house, killing at least 12 people, hospital officials and police said.
In the nearby town of Baquba, insurgents attacked soldiers and police with a suicide bomb, mortars and land mines, killing at least 10 people. Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility.
"The mujahideen ambushed a unit of the apostate guards in Baquba ... and a brave lion carried out an attack on the riffraff and turned them into scattered fragments," Al Qaeda Organization for Holy War in Iraq said in an Internet statement.
Police in Baquba, a mixed Sunni and Shi'ite town 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, said the attack began when five Iraqi soldiers were killed in an ambush. A suicide car bomb then hit police heading to reinforce the area, killing two. Three people were killed by roadside bombs.
In Baghdad, gunmen shot dead a policeman, police said.
In the northern city of Mosul, an Iraqi woman who had been a candidate in Jan. 30 elections for the Shi'ite alliance that topped the poll was shot dead outside her home on Sunday, alliance officials said. Hana Muhamasji, a university professor, was one of the few Sunni candidates on the alliance list.
Iraq's government issued new photographs on Monday of Zarqawi, showing him with short hair and a cropped beard. They are among only a handful of images of the shadowy militant.
The United States has offered $25 million for information leading to Zarqawi's capture or death. The Iraqi government says his network is crumbling and that his capture is close.
But Zarqawi's group said in an Internet statement on Monday that he was safe and in good health, and leading fresh attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7823911
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The shootings confirmed what for many Iraqis is a daily reality -- that U.S. forces are too quick to open fire and often kill innocent civilians in their efforts to crack down on insurgents, who killed at least 23 people in fresh attacks.
[Iraq News]: BAGHDAD - U.S. forces in Iraq faced new strains with allies Monday when Bulgaria said they had probably shot dead one of its soldiers after angering Rome by killing an Italian secret agent who rescued a hostage.
The shootings confirmed what for many Iraqis is a daily reality -- that U.S. forces are too quick to open fire and often kill innocent civilians in their efforts to crack down on insurgents, who killed at least 23 people in fresh attacks.
http://www.keralanext.com/news/indexread.asp?id=140161
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces in Iraq face new strains with allies as Bulgaria says they probably shot dead one of its soldiers, just after they angered Rome by killing an Italian secret agent who rescued a hostage.
The shootings confirmed what for many Iraqis is a daily reality -- that U.S. forces are too quick to open fire and often kill innocent civilians in their efforts to crack down on insurgents, who killed at least 23 people in fresh attacks.
Defense Minister Nikolai Svinarov said spent bullets removed from rifleman Gurdi Gurdev's body armor were of U.S. issue. Gurdev had been sprayed with automatic weapons fire after his unit shot warning rounds to halt an Iraqi vehicle in the dark.
"They were 7.62x51 Winchester," he said. Results from a U.S. investigation will be revealed on March 11 in Baghdad.
Gurdev's death happened the same day U.S. forces killed an Italian security agent and wounded journalist Giuliana Sgrena.
The incidents have drawn sharp criticism from the two U.S.-allied states, and officials from both countries have demanded the United States punish those responsible.
But Bulgaria's Army Chief of Staff Nikola Kolev took a more conciliatory tone Wednesday, saying his troops had been shown the location of U.S. units on a map, but the two sides had not established contact.
"The problem of communication was not solved," he told a news conference.
"A meeting has been held with an American communication unit in the area and it confirmed it had fired shots at the same spot and time when the incident occurred ... These accidents happen."
Bulgaria's government, led by former King Simeon Saxe-Coburg, is a strong supporter of the U.S.-led operations in Iraq (news - web sites), but roughly three quarters of the population disagree with its military presence there.
Gurdev's death -- Bulgaria's eighth fatal casualty suffered in Iraq -- has also ignited a storm of criticism from media and opposition parties at home, who say officials kept the details of the shooting secret for several days.
"The ease with which the authorities lied reveals their guilty conscience to society, which staunchly disapproves of their policy in Iraq and their servility to the Americans," daily Sega wrote in an editorial Wednesday.
Kolev and Svinarov denied they had withheld information, and said they had to wait for an investigation to discern whether the shooting was actually a case of "friendly fire."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=8&u=/nm/20050309/ts_nm/iraq_bulgaria_dc