The remains of Bulgaria’s latest Iraq victim will be transported home on Sunday evening, officials announced. Private Gurdi Gurdev was shot in the chest in an ambush near Diwany. Photo by Bulgarian Defence Ministry
The body of Bulgaria's latest Iraq victim will be transported home on Sunday, officials announced.
The flight will be carried out by a Bulgarian aircraft.
Private Gurdi Gurdev, aged 30, died on Friday evening, after his patrol came under fire some 45 km from camp Echo in the town of Diwany, Kadissiya province. The soldier was gravely wounded in the ambush and did not make it to hospital despite the efforts of other soldiers to revive him.
The young Bulgarian man was wounded several times in the chest, doctors said Saturday.
On Monday, his remains will be transported to his home village of Dolno Suhrene, near Stara Zagora. The funeral will take place on the next day.
The Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov, Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg, Defence Minister Nikolay Svinarov and Army Chief General Nikola Kolev have extended condolences to the family of the victim.
Private Gurdev was the eight Bulgarian soldier to die in Iraq since Bulgaria joined the multinational peacekeeping force there.