KIEV - The winner of Ukraine's presidential vote Viktor Yushchenko said that withdrawing the nation's troops from Iraq will be a priority for him once he takes office, after an accidental blast killed seven Ukrainian soldiers there.

Ukrainian troops at their base in the Iraqi city of Kut, October 2004. The winner of Ukraine's presidential vote Viktor Yushchenko said that withdrawing the nation's troops from Iraq will be a priority for him once he takes office, after an accidental blast killed seven Ukrainian soldiers there. (AFP/File/Ali Alak)

"Viktor Yushchenko sends deep condolences to the families of Ukrainian peacekeepers who died in Iraq Sunday," said a statement released by his press office late Sunday.

"Insofar as withdrawing Ukraine's peacekeeping contingent from Iraq, it remains one of Yushchenko's priorities once he assumes office," the statement said.

The seven Ukrainian troops, along with one Kazakh soldier, died after a bomb they were about to defuse went off accidentally in Iraq's central Wasit region, where Ukrainian and Kazakh troops serve under Polish control, Kiev's defense ministry said.

Another seven Ukrainian and four Kazakh troops were injured as a result of the accident, which occurred at 12:05 pm after a team of Kazakh sappers and their Ukrainian backup had brought back for defusion some 35 aerial bombs that Iraqi police had found stashed near the central military base of As Suwayrah.

After the bombs were unloaded from their transport vehicles one of them exploded for reasons that are still being investigated, the ministry said.

Some 1,600 Ukrainian troops have been deployed since August 2003 in Iraq's Wasit region where US-led coalition forces are under Polish command.

Prior to Sunday's deaths, Ukraine has lost nine of its troops, with another 20 injured.

In the heat of Ukraine's election saga in December, parliament in Kiev approved a resolution that demanded outgoing President Leonid Kuchma withdraw Ukrainian soldiers from Iraq.

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