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First of Romania's Red Scorpions leave for Iraq

PLA Daily 2004-01-20

BUCHAREST, Jan 19 (Xinhuanet)-- Romania's first batch of 64 troops left for Iraq aboard a military plane on Monday, the Romanian national news agency Rompres reported.

Dubbed the Red Scorpions -- the name that made them famous in Afghanistan -- the troops from the Neagoe Basarab 26th Infantry Battalion based in Craiova, southern Romania, will be stationed in the Al-Nassiyria area in Iraq.

Their task is to patrol the area, monitor traffic, escort missions in urban areas, support humanitarian missions and to guard fixed and mobile check-points.

The second group of 60 Red Scorpions will leave for Iraq on Wednesday and a total complement of 405 troops from the battalion will be in place in Iraq by February 4.

All troops volunteered to be sent to Iraq. Commissioned officers will earn 80 dollars a day and non-commissioned soldiers 70.

The Neagoe Basarab Battalion has previously taken part in peace-keeping missions in Angola, Albania, Afghanistan and the Balkans.