Bulgaria Sends Firearms, Ammo to Iraqi Government

Bulgaria has granted arms and ammunition worth about BGN 6 M to Iraq as part of an international effort to back the Iraqi government in its fight against Islamic State militants.

The grant comprising about 1,800 firearms and some 6 million rounds of ammunition has already been received by Iraq, the Defence Ministry in Sofia said in a statement.

The supplies worth a total of BGN 5.96 M came from the Bulgarian Army's surplus stocks and were transported with the help of partner countries, the ministry said. It didn't elaborate.

With Islamic State jihadist fighters now in control of large swathes of Iraq and Syria, the security and stability of the entire region are at risk, the statement said. On August 15 European Union foreign ministers welcomed the decision of some EU member state governments to meet demands of Kurdish regional authorities in Iraq for urgent supply of military aid to counter the offensive of Islamic State militants.

In the current extremely volatile sitiation Kurdish Peshmerga forces have the potential to fight the Islamist group in northern Iraq, which determines the need to urgently provide them with military aid through the Iraqi government

Other EU countries, including Germany, France and Italy have already agreed to send Kurdish Peshmerga forces allied with Iraq's central government light weapons to use against the Islamist militants.