Daily US Times: During a training exercise last month, US soldiers accidentally stormed an olive oil factory in Bulgaria that produces processing machinery for olive oil. The US military offered an apology about the incident.
US troops of the 173rd Airborne Brigade had been practicing for days how to secure and sieze the Cheshnegirovo decommissioned airfield in Bulgaria. The training included clearing bunkers across the airfield, according to a statement released Tuesday from the US Army Europe and Africa.
During an exercise on May 11, the US soldiers cleared a building next to the airfield that “they believed was part of the training area, but that was occupied by Bulgarian civilians operating a private business.”
No weapons were fired and nobody was hurt, the US military also said.
The US military said in the statement: “The US Army takes training seriously and prioritizes the safety of our soldiers, our allies, and civilians. We sincerely apologize to the business and its employees. We always learn from these exercises and are fully investigating the cause of this mistake. We will implement rigorous procedures to clearly define our training areas and prevent this type of incident in the future.”
Video from the security cameras of the olive oil factory shows US troops in military gear holding guns and walking in and out of the factory as others look on.
Rumen Radev, Bulgarian President, condemned the incident and said he expects there will be an investigation.
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