Insurgents step up attacks against diplomats in Iraq

Bahrain's top diplomat in Iraq was shot and wounded by unknown gunmen during a failed kidnapping attempt on Tuesday.

A statement released by Bahrain Foreign Ministry, a copy of which was received by Gulf News, said: "Hassan Malallah Al Ansari had been the target of a kidnapping attempt by unknown gunmen on his way from home to the Bahraini mission."

Al Ansari, head of the Bahrain mission in Baghdad, was treated for injuries at the Ibn Sina hospital, the statement said.

Hours after the ambush on Al Ansari, news agencies reported another attack on another diplomat in Baghdad.

Gunmen in two cars fired on the motorcade of Pakistani Ambassador Mohammad Younis Khan, police and diplomats said in the Iraqi capital.

The assailants sped off when the diplomat's guards returned fire.

Also yesterday, a bomb targeted private security guards near the Iranian embassy.

The attacks on diplomats signalled a spiralling insurgent campaign to discourage other countries from bolstering ties with the Iraqi Government.

The attacks came three days after gunmen seized Egypt's top envoy to Iraq as he was buying a newspaper in the capital.

Abu Musab Al Zarqawi's organisation said in a web posting it carried out the kidnapping of Iyhab Al Sharif.

"We, the Al Qaida in Iraq organisation, announce that the Egyptian Ambassador has been kidnapped by our mujahideen and he is under their control," said the statement.

"The aim is clear, just to create a state of fear," Iraqi Government spokesman Laith Kuba said. Al Sharif's kidnapping "was an attempt to ... scare the other diplomatic missions so that they won't expand their presence in Iraq."

Pakistani Ambassador Khan said gunmen riding in two cars opened fire on his convoy as he was on his way home from work in the same neighbourhood, but he wasn't wounded.

A foreign ministry spokesman in Islamabad said: "[The ambassador] is safe. We have decided to relocate him to Amman. The decision has been taken because of a deterioration in the security situation."

Two Russian embassy armoured cars were shot at on the notoriously dangerous road to Baghdad airport on Sunday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ale-xander Yakovenko said in Moscow, confirming the incident for the first time yesterday. He said Russia did not think it was a deliberate attack on its envoys.

The UN Secretary-General sharply condemned the rising attacks on foreign diplomats, hoping they would not weaken the international community's resolve to help Iraq.

In a statement released by his office, Kofi Annan said he was "deeply dismayed" by the recent rash of attacks, which he "vehemently condemns".