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Bulgaria says soldier killed by US troops
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-03-07 21:17

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces in Iraq, already implicated in the killing of an Italian secret agent, faced more "friendly fire" embarrassment on Monday when Bulgaria said they had probably shot dead one of its soldiers.

The controversy raised questions over whether U.S. troops are over-zealous in their efforts to crack down on insurgents, who killed at least 25 people in fresh attacks on Monday.

The Bulgarian soldier was killed in southern Iraq on Friday evening, around the same time that U.S. forces in Baghdad opened fire on a vehicle taking kidnapped Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena to the airport shortly after her captors freed her.

Sgrena was wounded in the shoulder and secret agent Nicola Calipari, who played a key role in her release, was killed. Hundreds of Italians lined the streets of Rome on Monday for the state funeral of Calipari, who died attempting to shield Sgrena.

Bulgarian Defense Minister Nikolai Svinarov said an investigation into the death of the Bulgarian soldier showed he was probably accidentally killed by American troops.

"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 news conference.

"The result gives us enough grounds to believe the death of rifleman Gurdi Gurdev was caused by friendly fire."

Svinarov said the Bulgarian army's chief of staff had written to Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. joint chiefs of staff, asking for an investigation.

The U.S. military had no immediate comment.

Many Iraqis say U.S. forces are too quick to open fire and often kill innocent civilians. The U.S. military says it does all it can to minimize the risk of innocent Iraqis being killed.

ANGER IN ITALY

The U.S. military says the Italian vehicle was traveling at high speed and ignored repeated instructions to stop.

But Sgrena, who works for the Rome-based communist newspaper Il Manifesto, has disputed that account, and several Italian politicians have said they do not believe the American version of events. Some say the car was deliberately shot at.

"You could characterize as an ambush what happens when you are showered with gunfire," Sgrena told Reuters.

"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."

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi -- one of the staunchest allies of President Bush over the Iraq war -- summoned the U.S. ambassador in Rome after the incident.

Bush has promised a full investigation. White House official Dan Bartlett said the shooting was a "horrific accident."

Although the governments of Italy and Bulgaria supported the war in Iraq, a large proportion of their people opposed it. Some 75 percent of Bulgarians disagree with U.S.-led military operations in Iraq, according to opinion polls.

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