| ||
| ||
| ||
 |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spanish diplomat killed in Iraq
From CNN Correspondent Harris Whitbeck
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A Spanish diplomat Thursday was shot and killed near his residence in the Iraqi capital, according to an eyewitness and the Spanish Foreign Ministry in Madrid. Jose Antonio Bernal Gomez, 30, was a military attaché, who served in Iraq as liaison for the Spanish intelligence service, the National Intelligence Center. A senior official from the intelligence center was headed from Madrid to Baghdad to bring home Bernal's remains, a Spanish Foreign Ministry spokesman told CNN. A security guard stationed at a school in front of Gomez's house said the incident happened around 7:45 a.m. (11:45 p.m. Wednesday ET) when three men arrived at the diplomat's house and knocked on his door. "The Spaniard came out only wearing his shorts, and within minutes the Spaniard pushed the man with the turban and came out shouting 'No, no,'" the guard told CNN. "At that time they were firing at him, but they weren't able to hit him." The guard said Gomez took off running down an alley, where he was hit by a bullet to the back of the head. Gomez had been stationed at the Spanish Embassy in Baghdad for two years, according to a foreign ministry statement. The ministry said a car carrying the gunmen had non-Iraqi license plates. Gomez was well aware of the risks of serving in Iraq and had gone there voluntarily to serve Spain, his father, Antonio Bernal, told CNN partner station CNN+ in a phone interview. The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Ramon Gil Casares, told reporters in Madrid that despite the attack, Spain would not withdraw its personnel from Iraq nor close the Spanish Embassy there. Spain has about 1,300 troops in Iraq, stationed in the Polish-controlled sector of the country between Baghdad and Basra. Gomez is the second Spaniard to die in post-war Iraq. Last August 19 in the bombing against the UN headquarters in Baghdad, a Spanish naval officer, Manuel Martin-Oar, was killed. He survived the initial blast and walked away from the scene but died soon afterward from wounds and internal injuries. His body was not located until the following day, the Foreign Ministry told CNN. The former regime of Saddam Hussein had warned the Spanish government that its staunch support for the Bush administration in the war on Iraq could have consequences. -- CNN Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman contributed to this report Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
