Bulgaria sends first group of guard troops to Iraq

SOFIA, Mar 31 (Reuters) Bulgaria has sent the first troops of a 150-strong guard unit for duty at a refugee camp in Iraq, the Defence Ministry said today, just three months after it quit combat operations there.

The new NATO member is sending 120 soldiers and 34 support personnel to guard a camp of Iranian refugees in Ashraf, some 70 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad.

''The first group of soldiers from the Bulgarian contingent, participating in a mission to guard the repatriation refugee centre in camp Ashraf, departed on March 30,'' the ministry said in a statement.

The lightly armed troops will stay in Iraq for a year.

In December, Bulgaria's Socialist-led government withdrew a 450-strong light infantry battalion after the deaths of 13 soldiers and six civilians fuelled public opposition to the war.

Although the Balkan state's government is a staunch ally of Washington, around two thirds of its 7.8 million people disagree with the US-led military operations in Iraq.

REUTERS KD RAI2148