EFL:
A US diplomat was killed yesterday morning when a rebel-fired rocket or mortar shell crashed into the trailer where he was sleeping at an American base near the Baghdad International Airport, the US Embassy announced. Edward Seitz, 41, an agent with the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, was believed to be the first US diplomat killed in Iraq since the war began in March 2003. Al-Jazeera television reported yesterday that the militant Islamic Army of Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack. One American soldier also was wounded in the predawn attack that killed Seitz, the State Department official. The attack occurred at Camp Victory, the headquarters of the US-led coalition's ground forces command.
Seitz was believed to be the first full-time State Department officer killed in Iraq. Last October, a female US Foreign Service officer was severely wounded in the arm in a rocket barrage on the Rasheed Hotel. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, one of the architects of the Iraq war, was in the hotel at the time but escaped injury. In Beijing, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell described Seitz as ''a brave American, dedicated to his country and to a brighter future for the people of Iraq." US Ambassador John Negroponte said Seitz was a ''committed professional" who served with distinction. ''He came to Iraq, as did his fellow Americans here, to help the Iraqis defeat terrorism and the insurgency, establish democracy, and rebuild their economy," Negroponte said. |