Twenty years after the terrorist attack against the base “India” in Karbala, in which five Bulgarian servicemen were killed, the date was marked at the Central Military Club in Sofia with a screening of the film “Stories from Karbala”, BGNES reports.

The event was attended by Minister of Defence Todor Tagarev, deputy ministers, senior officers from the Bulgarian army, participants in the operation of the Iraq stabilization and reconstruction coalition forces, friends and family of the men killed.

Bulgaria was part of the operation from 2003 until 2008, and lost 13 servicemen.

Talking to reporters later, Minister Tagarev commented that he is not worried about the adoption of the budget. “Next year, the budget is expected to be 2.05% of the GDP which will enable us to continue to develop and reinforce our defence capabilities and to seek to raise the levels of staffing of the army,” Todor Tagarev said. He stated further that this country has paid the first installment – around USD 263 million – for the US Stryker armoured fighting vehicles. As to the dismantling of the Soviet army monument, Todor Tagarev was adamant that it must be removed from the centre of Sofia:

“It is a totem of Russia’s dominance over Bulgaria. Let me reiterate that Bulgaria is not looking for enemies. We did not declare Russia an enemy, quite the opposite – Russia declared NATO an enemy, hence – us.”