The interim Iraqi government has asked Hungary to keep its troops there for about another year, a Hungarian government spokeswoman said Thursday. In a letter to Hungary sent about three weeks ago, Iraq thanked the country for its contributions so far and asked for an extension of the troops' mission by about a year "to help Iraq's stabilization process," government spokeswoman Boglar Laszlo told The Associated Press. Hungary has a transportation contingent of 300 troops in Iraq, stationed in Hillah, south of Baghdad. Parliament last year authorized the mission until Dec. 31. One Hungarian soldier has died in Iraq, killed when a roadside bomb exploded by the water-carrying convoy he was guarding.
