Slovak troops to leave Iraq by February, Prime Minister Robert Fico says

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
Media: The Associated Press
Byline:
Date: 18 October 2006


BRATISLAVA, Slovakia_Slovakia will withdraw its troops from Iraq next
February, Prime Minister Robert Fico said Wednesday.

"Slovak troops ... must be home in February 2007," Prime Minister Fico told
journalists.

He has also said that while 99 Slovak troops will leave Iraq, six servicemen
will remain behind at the headquarters of the United States-led coalition.
Another five Slovak officers will stay as part of a NATO mission tasked with
training Iraqi military, Fico said.

Slovakia currently has 103 troops in Iraq, stationed in Hillah in the Polish
sector. The troops were deployed in 2003 with an open mandate, and are
mostly involved in defusing and decommissioning unexploded ordnance and land
mines.

Three Slovak soldiers died two years ago in an explosion at an ammunition
dump in Iraq.

The pullout was announced earlier this year and Fico has repeatedly said his
cabinet will continue Slovakia's commitment to Operation Iraqi Freedom in
other ways.
 
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