3/7/2005 3:15:00 PM GMT
U.S. troops in Iraq, already implicated in the fatal shooting of an Italian intelligence agent, are also responsible for killing a Bulgarian soldier, Bulgaria’s Defense Minister said on Monday.
The Bulgarian soldier, identified as Gurdi Gurdev, was shot dead by U.S. soldiers near Bulgaria’s base in Baghdad on Friday evening.
Defense Minister Nikolai Svinarov said that a Bulgarian patrol came under heavy fire from the direction of U.S. forces.
"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 press conference.
"The result gives us enough grounds to believe the death of rifleman Gurdi Gurdev was caused by friendly fire."
Svinarov added that the Bulgarian army’s chief of staff demanded the head of the U.S. joint chiefs of staff, Gen. Richard Myers, to launch an investigation into the soldier’s death.
The U.S. army had no immediate comment.
Gardev was the eighth Bulgarian soldier to be killed in Iraq.
Recent opinion polls show that 75% Bulgarians oppose the war in Iraq, and analysts say that the incident could influence the country's parliamentary elections, scheduled for June.
The shooting took place around the same time that U.S. soldiers opened fire on a car carrying Italian reporter Giuliana Sgrena shortly after her release in Iraq.
Sgrena, who works for the Rome-based newspaper Il Manifesto, was injured in the shoulder and Italian secret agent Nicola Calipari, who was involved in securing her release, was killed.
On Monday, hundreds of Italians attended the state funeral of Calipari, who died attempting to shield Sgrena.
The American forces claim that the Italian car was speeding near a U.S. army checkpoint.
Many Italians say that they don’t believe the American side of the story. Sgrena also disputes the U.S. claims, saying that U.S. troops deliberately shot at the car.
Reuters quoted Sgrena as saying; "You could characterize as an ambush what happens when you are showered with gunfire,"
"If this happened because of a lack of information or deliberately, I don't know, but even if it was due to a lack of information it is unacceptable."
Despite joining the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, many Italians oppose the U.S. military operations in the country.
Iraqi citizens say that U.S. troops are too quick to open fire and often kill innocent civilians, while the U.S. army claims that it does its best to avoid the death of civilians.