| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq-Jordan |
| Gunmen wound Bahrain's envoy in Baghdad |
| 2005-07-05 |
| Bahrain's envoy in Iraq was shot and slightly wounded by gunmen who opened fire on his car in Baghdad on Tuesday, the second attack on a senior Arab diplomat in the city in three days. Also a roadside bomb exploded close to a US military patrol in Baghdad, near the Iranian embassy but it was not damaged. Earlier, about four gunmen opened fire on the envoy's car in the capital's upscale Mansour neighbourhood as he was being driven to work, a police source said. The envoy, whose name was given by a Bahrain Foreign Ministry official as Hassan Malalla al-Ansari, was wounded in the right hand by a single bullet. "The embassy said he was hit by a bullet after he left his house, but it is not clear if he was targeted or if it was a stray bullet," a Foreign Ministry official told Reuters. Police at the scene, where the envoy's white luxury saloon with red diplomatic plates was standing spattered inside with blood, said Ansari appeared to have been driving alone. A least two bullet holes were visible in the car's plastic lights. Scratches on the paintwork indicated that armour plating had deflected other bullets. Bahrain has close ties to the United States as host to a major US naval base in the Gulf that played a role in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Though like most Arab states it is ruled by Sunni Muslims, many of its people are Shi'ites, like the majority of Iraqis and non-Arab Iran. |
| Posted by:Paul Moloney |
| #8 Maybe Cheny was right about the last throes? They do seem to be getting more desperate! |
| Posted by: Bobby 2005-07-05 13:15 |
| #7 I suspect this new fad will backfire. The other Arab countries will not take attacks on their diplomats lightly. O to be a fly on the palace walls this week... |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2005-07-05 13:10 |
| #6 Hardly anything more fun than Saloon Racing. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-07-05 12:18 |
| #5 lol, TW! Call me an optimist, but maybe this is just another sign of their last lashing outs? First, they moved from hitting our boys to targetting civilians. Now, maybe they're trying to draw other countries into the fray? Hopefully, this is another sign of their last gasps! |
| Posted by: BA 2005-07-05 09:27 |
| #4 Do the insurgents have envoy envy? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-07-05 09:02 |
| #3 He was driving a bar? "Saloon" is Brit speak for a luxury 4-door car, I believe. |
| Posted by: Steve 2005-07-05 08:49 |
| #2 the envoy's white luxury saloon with red diplomatic plates He was driving a bar? Or is this another example of the poor writing featured today? Note the bozos have upped the ante - not satisified with just innocent women and children, they've moved up to diplomats! That's sure to win them some attention! |
| Posted by: Bobby 2005-07-05 08:08 |
| #1 Bahrain has close ties to the United States as host to a major US naval base in the Gulf that played a role in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. That explains it. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2005-07-05 06:43 |