by Vessela Sergueva
SOFIA - A Bulgarian soldier in Iraq was killed by "friendly fire" from a US soldier, Sofia said Monday, in a second deadly mistake by US forces the same day an Italian intelligence agent rescuing a hostage was shot dead.
"The information we have allows us to say with reasonable certainty that soldier Gardi Gardev was killed by friendly fire," Bulgarian Defence Minister Nikolai Svinarov said.
He was confirming an anonymous claim posted on a Bulgarian army website earlier on Monday asserting the soldier had been killed by US military fire.
The minister said he "has called on the leading coalition partners to undertake urgent measures for improving the coordination on all levels."
US military gunfire was also responsible Friday for killing secret agent Nicola Calipari, as he helped free an Italian journalist from her hostage-takers in Iraq.
Calipari, given a state funeral with full military honours in Rome Monday, has been hailed as a national "hero" and for using his own body to shield the journalist, Giuliana Sgrena, when a US patrol near Baghdad opened fire on the convoy whisking her to safety.
Italy is seeking explanations from Washington over the incident, in which Sgrena and two other agents were also wounded.
Gardev, a machinegunner on an armored vehicle, was killed from multiple wounds suffered in an attack Friday while his unit patrolled on a road to Baghdad in the village of Hamza, some 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of the capital.
Svinarov, reporting results of an enquiry into the shooting, said "around 7:45 pm local time three Bulgarian armored vehicles returning to base were approached by a civilian Iraqi vehicle, which did not respond to a stop signal.
"When the vehicle was 20 to 30 metres (65 to 100 feet) away, the Bulgarian patrol fired twice into the air as a warning to the approaching Iraqi vehicle, in line with established practice.
"Immediately after that, the Bulgarian patrol became subject to massive gunfire from the west, where there was an American army communication post," the Bulgarian minister said.
The message on the website, http://bgarmy.eamci.bg, said: "I want to state that the soldier Gardev died by 'friendly fire'... from an American soldier who wanted to protect a radio communication post.
"This is the truth, and I want to state this because I learned that a commission will come to conduct an enquiry.
"But in my opinion, it will only hide the facts," said the entry from a soldier who did not give his name.
The anonymous message accused Bulgarian commanders in Iraq of not having taken seriously enough a warning by the US command that radio communication posts were located on the road where the unit was patrolling.
Gardev was the eighth Bulgarian to be killed while serving in Iraq, where the NATO member has 450 troops serving as part of a multinational contingent under Polish command.
The Bulgarian government is to decide before March whether it will keep its 450-strong contingent in Iraq until the end of 2005.
Svinarov had said Sunday "it would be totally inappropriate to end the soldiers' mandate now."
The chief of staff of the army, General Nikola Kolev, also said on Sunday that in his view "the Bulgarian military presence in Iraq should be maintained until the end of the year," while also adding that it should be "gradually downgraded."
03/07/2005 11:13 GMT