The northern Bulgaria city of Vratsa is sending off Wednesday, with a solemn ceremony, 200 rangers to join the NATO ISAF mission in Afghanistan.

The servicemen are from the 3rd Bulgaria contingent trained for action in the defense zone of the airport in the capital Kabul.

The Vratsa army unit is sending troops to Afghanistan for the third time.

A total of 530 Bulgarian soldiers and medical staff are currently stationed in Afghanistan in Kabul and Kandahar. Their number will swell to 600 by the end of 2010.

From them about 300 Bulgarian troops are guarding the inside perimeter of the NATO air field in Kandahar whose region is known as a stronghold of the Taliban insurgents.

At the beginning of August, Bulgaria’s Defense Minister Anyu Angelov announced that Bulgaria was going to change the functions of the Bulgarian troops in Afghanistan, and that instead of guarding units, it was going to send a 700-strong combat regiment by the end of 2012. The combat unit’s training will end in 2012, and it could be send to Afghanistan after the respective political decision.

In January 2010, four Bulgarian soldiers were wounded during a Taliban missile attack on the Kandahar air field. All four survived but one of them lost his hand. The incident happened just as Bulgaria’s then Defense Minister and current Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov was visiting the base.

In June 2010, another Bulgarian soldier was hurt in Kabul after falling from a watchtower.

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