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| Iraq-Jordan | |
| Algerian diplomats seized in Iraq | |
| 2005-07-21 | |
| Two Algerian diplomats in Iraq have been kidnapped in Baghdad, police say. An Algerian embassy employee confirmed that mission chief Ali Balarousi had been abducted. Police say the top envoy and a diplomatic aide were seized outside a restaurant in the western Mansour district by attackers in two cars. The capture follows the abduction and killing earlier this month of Egypt's ambassador-designate in Iraq, which has been claimed by insurgents. Days after Ihab al-Sherif's kidnapping, gunmen attacked vehicles carrying Pakistani and Bahraini diplomats in Iraq. Officials say insurgents have launched attacks on diplomats to try to dissuade Arab countries from raising the level of their diplomatic representation. Egypt's decision to designate Mr Sherif an ambassador made Egypt the first Arab country to upgrade ties with Iraq. The US has been encouraging Arab countries to appoint ambassadors to Baghdad in an attempt to strengthen the new state and undermine the insurgency. Forty-six countries have foreign missions in Iraq, according to Iraq's foreign ministry. The Algerian embassy employee told the Associated Press that staff had no further information on Thursday's incident. A third Algerian diplomat who witnessed the capture told AFP news agency that he had seen the attackers pull the men out of their car, without firing shots.
Meanwhile, at least eight Iraqis have died in a series of attacks by insurgents in and around Baghdad. A suicide car bomber attacked an army patrol in Mahmoudiya, 30km (19 miles) south of the capital, killing five soldiers and wounding nine. A policeman was killed and eight others wounded by a car bomb in the capital, and two civilians died in a separate attack in the city. | |
| Posted by:Steve |