Bulgaria has allegedly imported small arms and ammunition to Kurdish officials in Iraq, according to a November 23 2008 article in the Washington Post Foreign Service.

Information for the article comes from three anonymous US military officials; comment from the Bulgarian Government or other Bulgarian parties was not included.

The transference of arms - "three planeloads of munitions" - took place this autumn, outside the weapons procurement procedures of Iraq's central government. They were delivered to the north-eastern Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah in September on three C-130 cargo planes.

"The large quantity of weapons and the timing of the shipment alarmed US officials, who have grown concerned about the prospect of an armed confrontation between Iraqi Kurds and the government at a time when the Kurds are attempting to expand their control over parts of northern Iraq," the article wrote.

While Kurdish officials also declined to talk, they did release a statement reading: "The Kurdistan regional government continues to be on the forefront of the war on terrorism in Iraq. With that continued threat, nothing in the constitution prevents the KRG from obtaining defense materials for its regional defence."

This autonomous region, known as Kurdistan, falls mostly in Iraqi territory; neighbours with large Kurdish minorities like Turkey and Iran have stated that they would fear the region's independence.

Iraq's interior minister, Jawad al-Bolani, said to the Washington Post Foreign Service that central government officials had not authorised the purchase of weapons from Bulgaria, and that such would be a "violation" of his country's law: only the ministries of interior and defence are authorized to import weapons.

This point has been contested by experts on Iraq's constitution, who have said that it "does not clearly say whether provincial officials have the authority to import weapons". But Iraqi and US officials both concurred with Al-Bolani's stance.

According to the American officials, they first learnt of the Bulgarian shipment to Kurdish leaders from a source in Bulgaria.