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Tight security as new US embassy opens
Source: Agencies |
January 6, 2009, Tuesday
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THE new US$700-million, fortress-like United States Embassy in the heart of Baghdad was inaugurated yesterday by Ambassador Ryan Crocker.
Crocker said the embassy was testimony to America's commitment to a long-term friendship with Iraq, where about 146,000 US troops are deployed.
The ambassador was joined at the ceremony by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, who served as the first American ambassador to Iraq after the US-led invasion of this country in 2003.
"From this embassy in the years to come, we look forward to building our partnership and contributing to the future," Crocker said.
The ceremony was held under tight security as attacks once again rocked Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq a day after a suicide bomber killed at least 38 people at a Shiite shrine just 6 kilometers north of the embassy site.
Four bombs went off in different parts of Baghdad yesterday, killing three people.
A roadside bomb killed two police officers and wounded five others in eastern Baghdad. Another killed a man driving his car in central Baghdad while two roadside bombs wounded more than 10 people - including seven Shiites preparing to head to the holy city of Karbala, south of Baghdad, where pilgrims will mark the anniversary of the 7th-century death of Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein tomorrow.
Iraqi officials said Sunday's suicide bomber, who killed at least 38 people outside the shrine of Imam Mousa al-Kazim in Baghdad's Kazimiyah district, was a man disguised as a woman. At least 17 of the dead were Iranian pilgrims.
After the attack, Iraqi authorities banned all women pilgrims from entering the district.
Crocker said the embassy was testimony to America's commitment to a long-term friendship with Iraq, where about 146,000 US troops are deployed.
The ambassador was joined at the ceremony by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, who served as the first American ambassador to Iraq after the US-led invasion of this country in 2003.
"From this embassy in the years to come, we look forward to building our partnership and contributing to the future," Crocker said.
The ceremony was held under tight security as attacks once again rocked Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq a day after a suicide bomber killed at least 38 people at a Shiite shrine just 6 kilometers north of the embassy site.
Four bombs went off in different parts of Baghdad yesterday, killing three people.
A roadside bomb killed two police officers and wounded five others in eastern Baghdad. Another killed a man driving his car in central Baghdad while two roadside bombs wounded more than 10 people - including seven Shiites preparing to head to the holy city of Karbala, south of Baghdad, where pilgrims will mark the anniversary of the 7th-century death of Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein tomorrow.
Iraqi officials said Sunday's suicide bomber, who killed at least 38 people outside the shrine of Imam Mousa al-Kazim in Baghdad's Kazimiyah district, was a man disguised as a woman. At least 17 of the dead were Iranian pilgrims.
After the attack, Iraqi authorities banned all women pilgrims from entering the district.
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