Iraq bomb hits French convoy, wounds 7
Source: Agencies |
June 21, 2011, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
SEVEN people were wounded yesterday when a French embassy convoy was hit by a makeshift bomb in Baghdad in the second attack on the mission's vehicles in a month, an embassy official and local police said.
The attack in Baghdad's al-Mesbah neighborhood underscored the still shaky security situation in the capital as the last US troops prepare to withdraw by a planned year-end deadline. Iraqi security sources said seven people were wounded in the attack, but an embassy spokesman said no French diplomatic or security personnel were hurt though one of the convoy's vehicles was badly damaged.
"We had an attack with an IED (improvised explosive device)," Issa Maraut, the French embassy first consul, said.
A month ago a French embassy convoy was also hit by an improvised explosive, but Maraut said there was no indication the embassy was being specifically targeted.
A witness said one of the convoy's vehicles and two other civilian cars were damaged in the blast.
Violence has eased in Iraq since the height of sectarian slaughter during 2006 and 2007, but a Sunni insurgency linked to al-Qaida and rival Shiite militias continue daily roadside bombings, mortar attacks and killings. Iraqi security officials last year arrested 12 suspected members of al-Qaida who they said had planned to set off a car bomb at the French embassy in Baghdad.
France has been on high alert for attacks due to tensions over presence of its troops in Afghanistan and the country's ban on allowing full-length Islamic veils, which was widely criticized by Muslims abroad as harming their religious freedom.
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