"I am opposed to a staged withdrawal, I want all the troops to be withdrawn together", Svinarov told journalists after meeting with his Romanian counterpart Theodor Anastassiou.

Svinarov is due Wednesday to draw up a proposal for the troop withdrawal, which would then go to the parliament and government for approval.

The centre-right government must take a decision before the end of March and parliament has to pronounce on it before it dissolves itself ahead of legislative elections at the end of June.

Bulgaria's 462 troops, currently serving in Iraq under Polish command, are due to be replaced by a new contingent of 370 troops in June.

So far eight Bulgarian soldiers have died in postwar Iraq, the last of them on March 4.

Bulgarian President Georgy Parvanov, whose post is largely ceremonial, last week suggested a staged withdrawal, saying the Bulgarian contingent should be reduced by 100-150 troops as of June, followed by a final pull-out at the end of the year.

While insisting the troops be withdraw together, Svinarov admitted that because Bulgaria is headed for elections, the decision was ultimately in the hands of the new parliament that will come out the vote.

"It will be decided by the next defence minister and the next government," he said, adding that they could decide to prolong Bulgaria's mandate in Iraq past the expiry date of December 2005.

But Bulgaria's troop deployment in Iraq is opposed by some 70 percent of the Bulgarian public and the Bulgarian Socialist Party, which is leading in polls, has vowed to withdraw all troops if it wins the legislative vote.

Anti-coalition feelings rose further in Bulgaria after machinegunner Gardi Gardev was killed in a US "friendly fire" incident outside Baghdad on March 4, due to a lack of communication between his patrol and a US communications post.

He died on the same day Italian intelligence officer Nicola Calipari was killed in a separate incident as he tried to shield freed Italian hostage Giuliana Sgrena from US gunfire on the convoy whisking her to safety near Baghdad airport.

Bulgaria and Italy have demanded explanations from Washington over the incidents, which rekindled the debate at home over whether they should withdraw their military contingents from Iraq.

After Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi -- who faces an election in less than two weeks' time -- called for the gradual withdrawal of Italy's contingent last week, the Bulgarian press urged Sofia to make haste.

The newspaper 24 hours said that "the debate is not whether to get (Bulgarian troops) out of Iraq, but when and how to announce it."

Romania's Anastassiou said Tuesday the country "will keep all its forces and equipment in Iraq until the situation normalises."

His country has 800 soldiers in Iraq.

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