Iraqi deputy foreign minister assassinated
7 Turkish hostages freed; bodies of 3 other hostages found
 |  A security officer pulls a shoe of deputy foreign minister Bassam Salih Kubba from his car. |
| |
|  VIDEO |
 One of Iraq's deputy foreign ministers is killed in an ambush.
 The story of an Iraqi boy who came to the U.S. for a new hand.
 CNN's Richard Roth eyes the new U.N. resolution on Iraq.
|
|
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- An Iraqi deputy foreign minister was gunned down in an ambush Saturday morning in front of his home in Baghdad, witnesses and government sources said.
Bassam Salih Kubba, 60, had worked in the Foreign Ministry for more than 30 years, holding important posts under the previous regime. He was one of four deputy foreign ministers and the ministry's most-senior career diplomat.
Kubba had been a part of Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari's delegation to the United Nations, last week.
"Although the relevant authorities are investigating this appalling crime, it bears all the hallmarks of leftover supporters of Saddam Hussein's evil regime," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Kubba was born April 27, 1944, in Baghdad, and graduated with a degree in English literature from Baghdad University, according to the coalition's Web site. He earned a master's degree in international relations at St. John's University in New York.
Kubba joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1968 and served in a variety of key positions worldwide, including charge d'affaires of the Iraqi mission to the United Nations and ambassador to China.
Kubba also served on the committee that ran the ministry after the fall of Saddam's regime.
This is the second attack on an Iraqi government official this week. Assailants opened fire on Iraq's deputy health minister, Ammar al-Saffar, Wednesday morning as he left his home for work. He escaped unharmed.
Zebari said, "We are saddened to lose such a close friend and a highly capable diplomat who has been helping our efforts to rebuild the foreign ministry."
Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said: "Once again, the shedders of innocent blood, the dwarfs who have only known treachery, treason and aggression, have perpetrated a new crime: the assassination of a senior Iraqi diplomat."
Last month, a convoy carrying Salama al-Khafaji, a female member of the Iraqi Governing Council, was ambushed. Four people in the convoy were killed, but al-Khafaji survived.
In mid-May, a suicide bomber killed Izzedine Salim, who was just two weeks into what was to have been a monthlong term as the council's president. Six others were killed in the blast outside the Green Zone, the highly secure area of Baghdad that's home to the U.S.-led coalition's headquarters.
Bodies of three hostages found
A Lebanese national and two Iraqi co-workers who had been taken hostage this week were found shot to death on Saturday, a Lebanese diplomat said.
Hassan Hijazi, charge d'affaires of the Lebanese Embassy in Baghdad, said Lebanese national Hussein Olayyan and two Iraqis were working for a Lebanese telecommunications company. Their bodies were found on the road near Ramadi.
Another Lebanese, a businessman named Roger al-Hadad, was kidnapped a few weeks ago and released a few days later. Lebanese businessman Habib Sammour, who owns a small shop in Baghdad, disappeared about a month ago.
Meanwhile, seven Turkish civilian contractors held in Iraq have been released, their employer told CNN Turk on Saturday.
Serdar Adali of Serka Ltd. did not have any other details.
Video released this week showed members of an obscure militant group holding Turkish workers and issuing anti-coalition messages.
The video, obtained by Associated Press Television and released Thursday, showed the four kneeling in front of the masked, armed militants. The hostages were holding passports.
A video broadcast Tuesday showed three other Turks surrounded at gunpoint by militants.
Other developments:
U.S. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said the U.S. military plans to release 650 inmates from Abu Ghraib prison on Monday. The abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. military prison guards at the notorious facility has sparked outrage through the world.In the Shiite holy city of Najaf, a battle between coalition forces and radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army seems to be calming down, a senior coalition official said. The official praised Iraqi police, who are trying to maintain stability in the volatile city and neighboring Kufa, where U.S. troops and the Mehdi Army fought for weeks before a truce agreement went into effect June 4. 
