Mon, 13 Jul 2009

The US Ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill has escaped an attempt on his life after a bomb exploded near the vehicle he was riding in.

The incident occurred in Dhi Qar province in southern Iraq on Sunday, the embassy said in a statement. Hill heard a bang and then drove through a cloud of smoke, the statement added.

The ambassador and the embassy personnel remained unharmed in the attack, it said.

A USA TODAY reporter who was traveling in a separate US convoy a few minutes behind Hill's in Nasiriyah, said that Hill had just finished meeting with local political leaders when his convoy came under attack.

Maj. Myles Caggins, a US military Spokesman, described the bomb that hit the convoy as a 'small' one. He said that it was unclear whether the assailants knew they were targeting the ambassador, though he said it is rare for Western civilian convoys -- which regularly run through the city -- to come under attack in that area.

Earlier in the day, a series of bombings targeted Christian churches in Baghdad killing four people and wounding at least 32 others.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=100528§ionid=351020201