IRAQ / POLAND: Poland's ambassador to Iraq, Gen. Edward Pietrzyk, is wounded and his bodyguard is killed in a triple bomb attack

Record ID: 352966

  • Title: IRAQ / POLAND: Poland's ambassador to Iraq, Gen. Edward Pietrzyk, is wounded and his bodyguard is killed in a triple bomb attack
  • Date: 4th October 2007
  • Summary: (BN08) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (OCTOBER 3, 2007) (REUTERS) HELICOPTER AT THE SITE OF THE ATTACK WITH SOLDIER STANDING NEXT TO IT/ BURNT OUT CAR NEAR HELICOPTER SOLDIER NEXT TO HELICOPTER TROOPS AND SECURITY GUARDS ESCORTING WOUNDED MAN WHO IRAQI SOLDIERS SAY IS THE POLISH AMBASSADOR GETTING ON TO TO HELICOPTER
  • Embargoed: 19th October 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA966VC3QXGI932VZBTHUS8GRZB
  • Story Text: Poland's ambassador to Iraq, Gen. Edward Pietrzyk, was lightly wounded in a triple bomb attack on his diplomatic convoy in central Baghdad on Wednesday (October 3) which killed a Polish bodyguard and an Iraqi passer-by, officials said.
    Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, a staunch U.S. ally which has around 1,000 troops stationed in southern Iraq, vowed to maintain its military presence, saying withdrawing forces in response to the attack would be "the worst possible mistake".
    "Desertion is always the worst option," he told reporters.
    "But regardless of Polish soldiers being there or not, we will have diplomatic relations with Iraq."
    Iraqi police initially said one passer-by was killed in the blasts and five people were wounded, including three embassy officials. A Polish Interior Ministry Robert Szaniawski spokesman later said a Polish bodyguard died in hospital.
    "Three armoured cars exploded including one carrying the ambassador," said Szaniawski said in Warsaw.
    "Four people were hurt in this incident, one of them a government security officer driving a car most probably is dead. Three people including the Polish ambassador are injured."
    Pietrzyk, is the former head of Poland's defence forces, which joined the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein in 2003.
    Poland has since remained a staunch ally of Washington, but a majority of Poles believe the troops should be withdrawn and the attack could make Iraq an issue in elections due on October 21.
    The explosions took place on a busy road in the Arasat district of central Baghdad.
    Reuters Television pictures showed a European looking man with his head, leg and hands bandaged being evacuated in a helicopter which landed in the street.
    Iraqi soldiers said the man, who was surrounded by security guards and troops, was the Polish ambassador. They said other wounded people had been taken by vehicle to the heavily fortified Green Zone for treatment.
    Three cars appeared to have been hit in the attack. Two of them were completely burnt out and the third, a sports utility vehicle with shaded windows, carried what appeared to be a red and white Polish flag, a witness said.
    "The blast happened when a three-vehicle convoy of the Polish Embassy was driving by. I stepped back because I was so close to the scene nearly 150 to 200 metres away from scene," said the witness. "I heard three bangs."
    The street had been blocked off by Iraqi security forces.
    Several diplomats have been killed by suspected al Qaeda militants in Baghdad since the invasion four years ago.
    In August 2003 a truck bomb outside United Nations headquarters in the Iraqi capital killed 22 people including U.N. envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello.
    Since then diplomats from Russia, Japan, Iran and Egypt have also been killed.
    Iraqi security forces, backed by thousands of extra U.S. troops, have imposed a security crackdown across the Iraqi capital in recent months in an effort to curb sectarian fighting and militant attacks.
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