Middle East News

Hungary, Bulgaria and South Korea to pull out of Iraq (Roundup)

Nov 7, 2008, 16:00 GMT

Baghdad - Hungary, Bulgaria and South Korea will each withdraw their troops from Iraq by the end of 2008, a spokesman for Iraq's Ministry of Defence told the Voices of Iraq news agency on Friday.

The troops will leave after finishing their tour of duty, said spokesman Mohamed al-Askary adding that most of the soldiers duties were 'humanitarian.'

Bulgarian Minister of Defence Teodor Melescanu was quoted by US media as saying some Bulgarian personnel would stay in Iraq to work as advisors to the Iraqi national authorities.

Bulgaria will withdraw its 155 troops, Melescanu said. Two Bulgarian soldiers have died since the beginning of the US-led war on Iraq in 2003.

Separately, a bomb planted in front of a house in al-Jamaa district of western Baghdad killed the owner of the house and wounded six people, VOI reported.

A second blast injured three policemen who had rushed to the site.

In Diyala province, a tribal police member was killed and another four members were injured when a bomb struck their car, security sources said.

Tribal police, also known as Awakening Councils, are Sunni tribe members collaborating with US forces in the fight against militants of the al-Qaeda terrorist network in Iraq.