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Egypt's top envoy to Iraq still missing
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-07-04 18:56

A car bomb in Baghdad killed two civilians Monday, police said, a day after Egypt's top envoy to Iraq was reported kidnapped in an apparent bid to dissuade Cairo from strengthening ties to the U.S.-backed government.


Iraqi guards stands outside the Egyptian consulate in Baghdad, Iraq Sunday, July 3, 2005. Ihab al-Sherif, 51, chief of the Egyptian diplomatic mission in Baghdad, was kidnapped Saturday night by about eight gunmen after he stopped to buy a newspaper in western Baghdad, witnesses said. Two diplomats, speaking in Cairo and Baghdad, confirmed the kidnapping of the envoy who has been in Iraq since June 1 of this year. [AP]

The car bomb was parked on a street in the capital's western area and was detonated by remote control, said police Lt. Col. Jalal al-Taei. Elsewhere, four gunmen killed a senior member of the Kurdish Democratic Party's Mosul branch, a party spokesman said. Jirjis Mohammed Amin was shot inside his sister's home in the northern city.

A second attack by gunmen in Mosul killed a bodyguard of the provincial Nineveh governor, police said. Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, is the country's third-largest city and considered an insurgent stronghold.

On Sunday, officials and witnesses said Egyptian diplomat Ihab al-Sherif, 51, chief of his country's diplomatic mission in Baghdad, had been kidnapped. Witnesses said he was seized Saturday night by about eight gunmen after he stopped to buy a newspaper in western Baghdad.

Al-Sherif, who had been in the country since June 1, was pistol-whipped and forced into the trunk of a car as the assailants shouted that he was an "American spy," the witnesses said, speaking on condition of anonymity Sunday because they feared reprisals.

The abduction occurred hours before Attorney General Alberto Gonzales paid a surprise one-day visit to Iraq on Sunday, where he praised the country's commitment to democracy despite sustained and deadly attacks by insurgents.

He told U.S. troops and diplomats at the American Embassy that their mission in Iraq "is so very important to the security of our country and the promotion of freedom around the world. There is so much at stake here."

He said Iraq is ready to accept U.S. help in investigating the killing and kidnapping of government officials.

"There are still some high-level crimes, murders and kidnappings that are not being prosecuted. One reason is that the evidence is not available," Gonzales said in an interview Sunday on his return trip to Washington.

In Cairo, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry confirmed the diplomat was missing and said contacts were underway with the Iraqi government "and all other sides" to win his release.

One of Iraq's most prominent Sunni Arab political organizations, the Iraqi Islamic Party, quickly condemned the kidnapping and demanded al-Sherif's "immediate release."

Al-Sherif was the highest-ranking foreign official to be kidnapped in Iraq, although a lower-ranking Egyptian diplomat was held briefly by insurgents last year. He was freed after Egypt reaffirmed that it would not send troops to Iraq.

Washington has been urging Arab nations to resume full diplomatic relations with the sovereign, elected Iraqi government, and al-Sherif's abduction appeared to serve as a warning against responding favorably to such overtures.

Last month, the Egyptian government said it would upgrade its mission in Iraq to full embassy status headed by an ambassador, which would have made al-Sherif the first Arab ambassador to Iraq's new government, although the timing of the move was uncertain.

Elsewhere, gunmen in Baghdad killed an Iraqi painting contractor who worked with a U.S. military base, doctors said. Omar Othman and a friend were driving on Baghdad's dangerous airport road Monday morning when the assailants opened fire. Othman's friend was wounded.

Separately, the Iraqi army found the beheaded corpse of an unidentified man with his hands tied behind his back Monday in Bani Zaid village, north of Baghdad, police said.



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