Polish ambassador survives Baghdad attack
BAGHDAD (AFP) — Poland's ambassador to Iraq narrowly survived an assassination attempt in Baghdad on Wednesday 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 neighbourhood 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 defence 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 Defence 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 underway to move the mission, Szczyglo told Poland's PAP news agency.
US ambassador in Iraq 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.
Witnesses said that after the attack helicopters landed near the scene and loaded up some of the wounded, including the ambassador, before taking off again.
US military spokesman Major General Kevin Bergner confirmed a US helicopter had been involved in evacuating the wounded.
"I understand that there was a US embassy helicopter that supported some evacuation from the scene of the attack," Bergner told a news conference.
The burnt-out shells of three 4X4 vehicles bore witness to the ferocity of the attack.
Three holes in the road within the space of about 10 metres (yards) left no doubt where the bombs had been planted.
Scattered across the street were mangled metal, shards of glass, melted plastic bottles and blood-soaked clothes, all drenched in water sprayed on the blazing cars by firefighters.
The wall of a small garden in the street was destroyed while window panes of nearby houses were shattered.
"I heard a violent explosion and all the window panes broke," said a man who gave his name only as Ali at his house next to the scene of the triple blast.
"I lay down on the ground. A few seconds later there was a second explosion. Then another, followed this time by the firing of light weapons," he told AFP.
"Those behind the attack were very well informed," said an Iraqi interpreter, his face covered by a black hood, at the site of the attack.
"It is a miracle there were not more deaths," he added.
Pietrzyk, 57, was a long-serving soldier before being appointed head of Warsaw's diplomatic mission in Iraq earlier this year. He was commander in chief of Poland's land forces from 2000-2006.
He began his army career in communist-era Poland, and studied at the Soviet Union's artillery academy and its chief of staff academy.
Poland, where a snap election is being held on October 21, has become a close US ally since the collapse of its communist regime in 1989. It joined NATO in 1999.
Warsaw was a solid supporter of Washington in the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, earning it the ire of anti-war governments in Europe, particularly France.
Poland supplied troops to the US-led coalition for the invasion and has continued its deployment ever since.
A total of 21 Polish soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the conflict began.
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Edward Pietrzyk


El Embajador de Polonia para Iraq fue herido luego de una serie explosiones dirigidas a su convoy diplomático; el ataque dejó como saldo al guardaespaldas del embajador y a dos civiles iraquíes muertos

Tres explosiones, separadas por cortos intervalos, fueron dirigidas al convoy del Embajador Edward Pietrzyk cerca de la 7:00 GMT.

"Fue un intento de asesinato. Nuestros tres automóviles conducían por minas", declaró un ministro de relaciones exteriores hoy en Varsovia.

Las autoridades polacas además declararon que Pietrzyk pudo retirarse de la escena por sí mismo, pero su guardaespaldas murió por heridas en el hospital. En el incidente también murieron 2 iraquíes y otros 14 civiles fueron heridos.

Polonia es un aliado de Estados Unidos con cerca de 1.000 tropas en el sudoeste de Bagdad. Varios polacos argumentan que Polonia debería retirar soldados de Iraq.

Sin embargo, un firme Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Primer Ministro de Polonia, declaró que Polonia no retiraría sus tropas tras el ataque. "La deserción es siempre la peor opción. Es una solución que no trae nada positivo, sin mencionar el lado moral", afirmó el Primer Ministro.