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SOFIA, Aug. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- The first 145 of Bulgaria's main peacekeeping troop has left for Iraq, the Bulgarian news agency reported Monday.

The soldiers will first arrive by plane in Kuwait, their firstbase in the Gulf, to have adaptation training.

The main basis of the troop will be in the southern Iraqi cityKerbala which has predominantly Shia population.

Trained in accordance with NATO standards, the Bulgarian troops will be included in the division in southern Iraq which is under the command of Poland.

The main peacekeeping troop is dispatched after a thirty-strong avant-garde left for Iraq on July 26.

The United States agreed to cover transportation and living expenses of the Bulgarian soldiers. However, Sofia hopes to negotiate additional funding for the Bulgarian soldiers in Iraq's neighboring territories.
As a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, the Balkan state openly threw its support behind the United States and Britain for the war on Iraq early this year.

At the beginning of the war, Bulgaria had planned to send a nuclear, biological and chemical defense contingent to a country neighboring Iraq.

After the plan was canceled, the Bulgarian parliament approvedin May to send a 500-strong peacekeeping force to Iraq to contribute to the country's postwar reconstruction. Enditem

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Bulgaria's Troops in Iraq "Not Prepared for Desert Climate"

Bulgaria's troops in Iraq will find very difficult to endure the desert climate in Iraq. This is what the chair of the George Marshal Association Velizar Shalamanov said following the departure of the first group of Bulgaria's main Iraq unit on Monday. "I doubt that anyone in Bulgaria is truly prepared for life in the desert with its high temperatures and this is a challenge the Bulgarians will have to face," Shalamanov, who is former deputy defense minister, said. However, he added there will be a period of adaptation since the Bulgarian peacekeepers will stay for a while in Kuwait before leaving for their final destination - the Shia city of Kerbala in Southern Iraq.

"The risk for the Bulgarians in Iraq is great and that is why the people have been carefully selected. I believe they will carry out this risky but very important mission in a fitting manner for them and Bulgaria," the military expert said. According to him, the time which the Bulgarian Iraq-bound battalion had to prepare, though short, was used efficiently.

Shalamanov added he hoped the equipment of Bulgarians is good enough so that the training they will receive on the spot by Americans and Poles can be effective.

The next two groups of Bulgaria's main unit are expected to leave on Tuesday and Wednesday.