[NYTr] Bomb Wounds Polish Ambassador to Iraq

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AP - Oct 3, 2007
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ?SITE=VOICESD&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
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Bomb Wounds Polish Ambassador to Iraq

By BUSHRA JUHI
Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD (AP) -- The Polish ambassador to Iraq was slightly wounded and
two civilians, including a bodyguard, were killed in a roadside bomb
attack Wednesday in downtown Baghdad, according to Polish government
officials.

Gen. Edward Pietrzyk was being treated for burns and "is going to be
fine," said Deputy Ambassador Waldemar Figaj, who spoke to The
Associated Press from the hospital in Baghdad's Green Zone.

A civilian passer-by died after at least two roadside bombs were
detonated around 10 a.m., an Iraqi police official said on condition of
anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. A
Polish security guard, believed to be Pietrzyk's driver, died at the
hospital a short time later, said Robert Szaniawski, a spokesman for
the Polish Foreign Ministry.

At least 11 people, including three security guards with the convoy,
were also wounded in the attack in the Karradah neighborhood, police
said. The guards worked for Poland's Government Protection Office,
which is responsible for the security of Polish officials in Iraq, said
Dariusz Aleksandrowicz, the agency's spokesman.

Szaniawski said the attack, which took place a few hundred yards from
the Polish Embassy, seemed to target the ambassador.

"We still don't have the reasons for the attack," he said, adding that
the embassy is not in the heavily fortified Green Zone.

Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said the attack would not
weaken his countrymen's resolve to fight terrorism in Iraq.

"Backing out before terrorists is the worst possible solution and I
trust that the Poles, who are a brave nation, will not desert the
battlefield," he said. "We must fight terrorism and that entails a
certain risk."

Poland, a staunch U.S. ally, contributed combat troops to the 2003
U.S.-led war in Iraq, and has since led a multinational division south
Baghdad. About 900 Polish troops are stationed there training Iraqi
personnel; 21 have died during the conflict.

Last year, the Polish government extended its mission in Iraq until the
end of 2007, leaving a decision on further extensions for later this
year.

"Poland has been a strong and steadfast ally here and around the world,
and we commend its commitment to a stable and secure Iraq," said a
brief statement issued by U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and the U.S.
commander, Gen. David Petraeus, condemning the attack. "We stand ready
to provide any additional assistance we can."

U.S. officials said Blackwater USA, a Moyock, N.C.-based security firm,
flew the ambassador to the Green Zone for treatment.

The company is under investigation for the role its personnel played in
a Sept. 16 shootout that left 11 Iraqis dead in Baghdad. The incident
prompted the Iraqi Interior Ministry to order the company out of the
country, but Blackwater guards were back on duty less than a week later.

Blackwater has an estimated 1,000 employees in Iraq, and at least $800
million in government contracts.

U.S. authorities confiscated an AP Television News videotape that
contained scenes of the wounded being evacuated. U.S. military
spokesman Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl told AP the government of Iraq had
made it illegal to photograph or videotape the aftermath of bombings or
other attacks.

Pietrzyk, 57, who was formerly commander of land forces in Poland, was
appointed ambassador to Iraq in April, Szaniawski said. He studied in
the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, and spent two years at the National
Defense University in Washington. He then served as commander of Polish
land forces from 2000 until 2006.

[Associated Press writers Katarina Kratovac in Baghdad and Monika
Scislowska and Ryan Lucas in Warsaw, Poland, contributed to this
report.]

© 2007 The Associated Press.