Bulgarian military authorities have dismissed the possibility that a missile attack in Afghanistan was specifically targeted at Nikolai Mladenov, due to be officially appointed as Bulgaria's new Foreign Minister on January 27 2010 and who is currently on a visit to the country, Bulgarian media reported on January 25 2010.

Missiles launched with a timer mechanism landed at a Nato base in Kandahar, wounding four Bulgarian soldiers about 300m from the accommodation of Defence Minister Mladenov, bTV reported on January 24 2010.

Reportedly, the Bulgarian soldiers wounded are Junior Sergeant Alexander Alexandrov, Corporal Yordan Petkov, Private Yavor Kirilov and Private Luchezar Danailov, of whom Alexandrov is reported to be in a coma.

The casualties will be airlifted and transported to the military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, the site of the U.S. Army's medical installation. The Landstuhl Army Regional Medical Center (LARMC), a U.S. Army Medical Command (MEDCOM) post, is often the first stop for American casualties leaving the ongoing conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Ramstein Air Base is also nearby.

It was the second such attack on the base in a month. In 2009, there were 48 such attacks, Dnevnik said.

Mladenov had been on a five-day visit to the Bulgarian contingent in Afghanistan in one of his last major duties as Defence Minister.

Bulgarian military commanders have categorically rebuffed the speculation that the attack was specifically aimed at Mladenov. Reportedly, the 107mm round was fired with a timer mechanism and it was randomly aimed at the base. It actually exploded inside a Romanian barrack injuring three foreign soldiers. Two of the Bulgarians injured in the attack were reportedly "outside the barrack smoking".

Mladenov subsequently visited the wounded in hospital. Earlier in the day, the minister met the 270-member Bulgarian deployment in Kandahar, Bulgarian news agency BTA said.

As The Sofia Echo reported earlier, Bulgaria has deployed a 600-strong mechanised infantry battalion in Afghanistan, its main tasks being the security of the airport in the southern Afghan town of Kandahar and military installations in capital Kabul. Kandahar is a Taliban stronghold and terrorist attacks in the region are commonplace.