Syria strongly denounced on Friday the killing of an Egyptian diplomat in Iraq as a "horrible criminal action", the official SANA news agency reported.

"Syria renews its rejection and denunciation of all terrorist actions wherever they occurred," a foreign ministry source was quoted as saying.

The source also expressed Syria's "sincerest consolation to the government and people of sisterly Egypt and to the late family and colleagues", SANA said.

Egypt's Ambassador-designate to Baghdad Ihab el-Sharif was kidnapped near his home in Baghdad on Saturday. The Al-Qaida in Iraq announced his death Thursday in an Internet statement.

Source: Xinhua