Bulgaria's 155-strong military contingent in Iraq will be moved to Baghdad from guard duties inside a refugee camp on the border with Iran, the government said Thursday.
The Bulgarian peacekeepers have a parliamentary mandate to remain in Iraq until end-2008.
But following the closure of the Ashraf refugee camp they will be shifted to Baghdad to "guard detainees who are undergoing a programme for social reintegration," the government said in a statement.
The decision has to be approved by parliament to enter into force and the transfer will be accomplished between June 15 and July 10, it added.
Bulgaria's centre-left government withdrew a 360-strong military contingent from Iraq in 2005 after losing 13 soldiers and six civilians in the war-torn country.
But three months later it returned to the US-led coalition, dispatching a 155-strong contingent on a "peacekkeping and humanitation mission."
