IRAQ: Nassiriya French consulate hit as blasts go off

Record ID: 861088

  • Title: IRAQ: Nassiriya French consulate hit as blasts go off
  • Date: 9th September 2012
  • Summary: NASSIRIYA, IRAQ (SEPTEMBER 9, 2012) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS): FIRE ENGINE OUTSIDE FRENCH CONSULAR BUILDING THAT TARGETED BY CAR BOMB ATTACK DAMAGED CAR POLICE EXAMINE WRECKAGE OF CAR USED IN BOMB ATTACK CLOSE OF FRENCH FLAG ON TOP OF FRENCH CONSULAR BUILDING FRENCH FLAG /ZOOM OUT FRENCH CONSULAR BUILDING AND POLICEMEN NASSIRIYA, IRAQ (SEPTEMBER 9, 2012) (REUTERS): IRAQ POLICE OFFICERS INSPECTING WRECKAGE OF CAR BOMB NEAR DAMAGED HOTEL AT BLAST SCENE DEMOLISHED HOTEL / POLICEMEN AND DEBRIS ON GROUND DEBRIS AND WRECKAGE OF CAR BOMB ON GROUND POLICE OFFICERS AT SCENE DAMAGED VEHICLE PEOPLE GATHERING IN FRONT OF DAMAGED HOTEL VARIOUS OF DAMAGED ENTRANCE OF HOTEL WITH TWISTED METAL AND DEBRIS
  • Embargoed: 24th September 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • City:
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVA62YHZPFS2A1GI5IGJ43UK5FRN
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: A car bomb exploded outside a building housing the French consulate in the Iraqi city of Nassiriya on Sunday (September 9), killing a police guard and wounding four others, authorities said.
    Two people were killed and three were wounded when another car bomb was detonated outside a hotel in the city 300 kilometres south of Baghdad.
    The two explosions in Nassiriya were part of a series of attacks and blasts across Iraq which claimed at least 58 lives on Sunday.
    Nobody has yet claimed responsibility for Sunday's attacks.
    The honorary consul was not at the office at the time of the attack, one French diplomat said.
    In June last year, a French embassy convoy was hit by a roadside bomb in Baghdad that wounded seven local Iraqi guards and badly damaged an embassy vehicle. A month earlier, another French embassy convoy had been hit by an explosive device.
    At that time France was on high alert for attacks overseas due to tensions over the presence of its troops in Afghanistan and the country's ban on allowing full-length Islamic veils, which was widely criticised by Muslims as harming their religious freedom.
    At least 58 people were killed in attacks across Iraq on Sunday; the most serious of the bombings, blasts and shootings happened near the city of Amara, 300 km (185 miles) south of Baghdad, when two car bombs exploded outside a Shi'ite shrine and a market place, killing at least 16 people, officials said Iraq's conflict has eased since its height in 2006-2007 when sectarian slaughter killed thousands. But Sunni Islamists and an al Qaeda affiliate still launch about one major attack a month in an effort to reignite tensions between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims following the U.S. military withdrawal in December.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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