Region | Iraq

Iranian envoys hurt after attack on convoy in Iraq

An Iranian Embassy convoy came under fire in Baghdad, wounding two Iranian diplomats and two other embassy staff, a spokesman said on Friday.

  • AP
  • Published: 21:58 May 16, 2008
  • Gulf News

Baghdad: An Iranian Embassy convoy came under fire in Baghdad, wounding two Iranian diplomats and two other embassy staff, a spokesman said on Friday.

Tehran issued an angry response blaming the United States for encouraging attacks against Iranian interests in Iraq with its rhetoric against the Islamic republic.

The US military insisted Americans were "in no way involved in this attack" and added it "condemns any attack on guests or visitors of any country."

It was not clear who shot at the convoy. An Iraqi Interior Ministry official said Iraqi soldiers exchanged fire with guards in an argument that broke out when members of the convoy failed to produce identification cards.

Stable condition

Iranian Embassy spokes-man Manoucher Taslimi said he did not know who the gunmen were but said the convoy was attacked while it was en route to a revered Shiite shrine in the northern neighbourhood of Kazimiyah.

The shooting against the Iranians came as the convoy approached a bridge that links Kazimiyah with the predominantly Sunni area of Azamiyah, Taslimi said.

Taslimi said those wounded, including two Iranian diplomats and an Iranian and an Iraqi administrative employee, were in stable condition.

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