Six Georgian servicemen have suffered bomb splinter injuries in the Iraqi town of Baquba, a source from the Ministry of Defense told Civil Georgia on July 27.

According to the source, “All of them are slightly injured.”

Meanwhile, Reuters reported, quoting an Iraqi army source, that gunmen opened fire on a checkpoint manned with Georgian soldiers in Khairnabat, near Baquba 65 km north of Baghdad, on July 27.

A U.S. army spokesman told Reuters that four Georgian servicemen are already back on duty.

A total of 18 Georgian servicemen have been injured in Iraq since August, 2003, when Georgia first started to contribute to coalition forces there.

Currently, Georgia has about 850 of its elite troops in Iraq and represents one of the most significant contributors to the coalition forces in terms of a country's per capita troop deployment.