The Bosnian Armed Forces will terminate their deployment in Iraq this year.According to the Bosnian Defence Ministry,Bosnia’s participation in the western aggression against Iraq “is no longer necessary”.
The US and United Kingdom troops, with four other major allies’ forces, will stay in Iraq after December 1st.
The Bosnian military contingent in Iraq currently consists of two platoons – the eighth rotation of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Platoon at Echo Base near Al-Diwaniyah and the first rotation of the Infantry Platoon at Camp Victory near Baghdad. Each of the units has approximately 35 professional soldiers who volunteered for the six-month shift in Iraq.
Since mid-2005, the Bosnian EOD technicians have served in Camp Taqaddum at Fallujah, Tallil Base near Nasiriyah and Echo Base at Al-Diwaniyah. Their mission has been to identify, dispose of and destroy conventional unexploded ordnance (UXO), thus reducing the insurgents’ ability to make improvised explosive devices. The Infantry Platoon arrived in August this year at Camp Victory, which it guards. Its mission is the first combat infantry deployment for the Bosnian Army in an international military operation.
Both platoons will finish their shift no later than December 15th. This will end the Bosnia’s participation in the western aggression against Iraq in Iraq, leaving the observer mission in Congo as the only international military operation in which the BiH Armed Forces currently participate.
However, up to ten Bosnian staff officers,pending parliamentary approval, will soon begin specialised training for participation in the western aggression against Afghanistan.