BAGHDAD, 4 October 2007 — Poland’s ambassador to Iraq narrowly survived an assassination attempt in Baghdad yesterday that left one Polish bodyguard and two Iraqis dead, officials said.
Three roadside bombs, timed to go off at short intervals, ripped through Ambassador Edward Pietrzyk’s convoy as he left his residence in Al-Arasat neighborhood at around 0700 GMT, witnesses said. Polish authorities said Pietrzyk was hurt but able to leave the scene himself, while his bodyguard-driver died in hospital of wounds and three other bodyguards were also injured.
Two Iraqis were killed and 14 people wounded, an Iraqi Defense Ministry official said. It was not clear if the dead Iraqis were working for the embassy.
A determined Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said following the attack that Poland would not withdraw the 900 troops it has stationed southwest of Baghdad. “Desertion is always the worst option. It’s a solution which doesn’t bring anything positive, not to mention the moral side,” Kaczynski told reporters in Warsaw.
Polish Defense Minister Aleksander Szczyglo announced, meanwhile, that Warsaw would move its embassy, which currently lies outside the heavily-guarded Green Zone in Baghdad.
“We have the agreement of Iraqi authorities to pick a location inside the Green Zone” and steps were already under way to move the mission, Szczyglo told Poland’s PAP news agency. US Ambassador Ryan Crocker and top American general, David Petraeus, issued a joint statement strongly condemning the attack.
“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 the statement, which sent “wishes and prayers” to the Polish envoy.
