Roundup: Insurgents mount attacks targeting diplomats in Baghdad

In a new wave of insurgent attacks Tuesday, foreign diplomats in Baghdad became the target, with the top Bahrain envoy wounded and a top Pakistani diplomat escaped unhurt.

Unknown gunmen opened fire at Hassan al-Ansari, the charge d'affaires of Bahrain's diplomatic mission to Iraq, in Harithiyah neighborhood in western Baghdad, a police officer at the scene told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Ansari was shot by several bullets before he was evacuated to Yarmouk hospital for treatment, said the police officer.

Hours later, Pakistani envoy to Iraq escaped unhurt when unknown gunmen in two cars shot at his convoy in western district of Mansour in Baghdad.

The gunmen fled the scene after the bodyguards returned fire, police said.

Nobody was hurt in the attack.

Tuesday's attacks targeting diplomats in Baghdad came three days after the abduction of the Egyptian envoy Ihab el-Sharif, whose whereabout remains unclear.

In other attacks on Tuesday, a powerful blast rocked the capital near the Iranian embassy.

"The blast took place at about 10:15 a.m. (0615 GMT), when a bomb or several bombs blew up near the Iranian embassy, wounding a civilian and damaging two vehicles," a police Colonel, who named himself Ammar, from Salhiyah police station in the area told Xinhua.

US and Iraqi forces cordoned off the scene, some 200 meters away from the Iranian embassy.

It was not immediately clear whether the target was the embassy itself or the nearby heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses the US embassy and the Iraqi government offices.

Besides attacks on diplomats, unknown gunmen also ambushed a minibus with seven airport employees aboard in western Baghdad, killing four women and wounding three others early Tuesday.

Since the Shiite-dominated government was formed in late April, insurgents have mounted attacks across the country and over 1,400 people have been killed.

The effort to woo the Sunnis for the country's political process seems to gain progress.

Dr. Adnan al-Dulami, spokesman for the General Conference for Sunnis in Iraq, called on Sunnis on Monday to organize themselves and take part in the coming elections.

The Sunnis, making up around 20 percent of the Iraqi population, chose to stay away from the Jan. 30 election, which resulted in its lack of presence in the current interim Iraqi government largely dominated by Shiites and Kurds.

The political unbalance further boosted violence by the insurgents.

Source: Xinhua