Bulgarian Soldier Killed as Karbala Clashes Flare

Politics | April 23, 2004, Friday // 00:00
Bulgarian Soldier Killed as Karbala Clashes Flare Bulgarian Senior Sergeant Dimitrov was killed in a Karbala ambush. This is the sixth Bulgarian fatality in Iraq. Photo by Defence Ministry.

One Bulgarian soldier was killed, four Iraqis, one Iranian and five members of al-Sadr's Mahdi army wounded as clashes flared in the holy city of Karbala.

The Bulgarian soldier died of his wounds after being shot in the head in an ambush.

The patrolling Bulgarian vehicle ran into an ambush around midday. The vehicle came under mortar and automatic guns fire, and the Bulgarians shot back at the attackers.

Senior Sergeant Dimitar Dimitrov was flown to a hospital on a helicopter, and then transported to the Baghdad-located Juliet base.

This is the sixth Bulgarian soldier killed in Iraq. Last December, a cistern bomb destroyed the Bulgarian camp, claiming the lives of five soldiers. Bulgarian troops have been deployed in the southern city as part of a 9,000-strong Polish-led multinational contingent.

Blasts rocked different parts of the city as the rival forces traded fire for half an hour.

Meanwhile, Al-Sadr said there would be martyrdom attacks if the occupation troops penetrated any of the Shia holy cities.

"If we are forced to defend our cities, we will resort to martyrdom operations and we will be human time bombs which would explode in their faces," he said in his weekly sermon at Kufa, on the outskirts of the holy city of Najaf, 160 km south of Baghdad on Friday.

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