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| Iraq | |
| Japanese nationals killed in Iraq | |
| 2003-11-29 | |
| Slightly EFL Two Japanese citizens who may have been diplomats have died in an apparent ambush near the Iraqi city of Tikrit. A non-Japanese driver accompanying them was wounded, a Japanese foreign ministry spokesman said in Tokyo, quoting the embassy in Baghdad. AFP news agency reports that a single attacker shot the two Japanese near Tikrit on Saturday. Foreign ministry spokesman Hatsuhisa Takashima told Reuters news agency there was "a good possibility" that the victims were Japanese diplomats but identification could only be carried out properly on Sunday morning. Mr Takashima said the vehicle in which the two Japanese had been travelling had been identified as a black, four-wheel-drive armoured car registered in Lebanon. "That identification resembles [a vehicle] of the Japanese embassy in Baghdad," he said. The two victims’ bodies had been taken to a hospital in Tikrit but full identification would not be possible until Sunday because of security concerns, he explained. "Unfortunately, it is night right now and because the area of Tikrit is not safe, they cannot move at the moment. As soon as the sun rises... the Japanese embassy will dispatch someone to Tikrit. Poor bastards. What with the Spanish deaths, now Japanese, are we seeing a strategy emerging?
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| Posted by:Bulldog |
| #4 No Matt, these guys do eveything to have the maximum effect. The whole situation is compromised, but not lost. |
| Posted by: Lucky 2003-11-30 1:15:28 AM |
| #3 My best guess from the news about the Spanish -- thank you, Spain, and condolences on your loss -- was that their car simply happened to be the first target to move into a prepared ambush zone. |
| Posted by: Matt 2003-11-29 7:14:01 PM |
| #2 Not very subtle, is it? I think by the law of averages, if attacks were aimed at the coalition in general, not just the Americans, there would be attacks against just about every nation or organisation comprising or seen to be supporting the occupying forces, at one time or another. Two incidents in one day against a 'wobbly' contributor the coalition forces and a musing member, looks to me like it could be the start of a serious attempt to start stripping down the number of nations sctively involved in the coalition, weakest first. On the other hand, perhaps the attack on the Spanish was just a regular mob thing, and/or the passing Japs were a random target of oportunity. Were the Italians targetted because of a perceived political weakness, as an attempt to scare their relatively small force out of Iraq, or because their base had lax security? Likewise the UN, Red Thingy, hotels and embasssies? If it's a genuine nationally-targetted strategy as opposed to part of a non-discriminatory general anti-coalition campaign with bonus points for soft targets, these'll be repeated, I suppose... I'm pretty reluctant to credit the Ba'athists/jihadis with recognising more than the minimal potential of action and consequence. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2003-11-29 7:04:11 PM |
| #1 I don't know what effect these attacks are having on anyone else, but CNN is officially ready to surrender. Those jerks have been in a real funk since they missed the Big Plane Ride to Baghdad on Thursday. |
| Posted by: Matt 2003-11-29 6:32:38 PM |