Four Egyptian workers were injured on Sunday when a bomb went off near the Egyptian consulate in the Mansour neighborhood of Baghdad, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday. The consulate building was also damaged. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hossam Zaki said in a press statement: “Initial reports given to us by the Egyptian ambassador in Iraq, Sharif Shahein, say that four Egyptian citizens were wounded with non-critical injuries as a result of being struck by flying shrapnel in the form of glass at the time of the explosion. The wounded have been transported to the Yarmouk hospital where they are receiving treatment.” Sources in the Iraqi Interior Ministry told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the four injured Egyptians were security guards who were standing in front of the consulate building at the time of the bombing. No diplomats or administrative employees were harmed, according to the Iraqi source. Zaki confirmed that the Egyptian ambassador and the embassy crew working in the Green Zone were unharmed. He said that the ambassador is continuing work as usual and is conferring with Iraqi authorities to investigate the bombing incident. Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit immediately formed an internal ministry task force to coordinate with Iraqi authorities when he learned of the Baghdad bombing, according to Zaki. The foreign ministry spokesperson said that Abul Gheit contacted his Iraqi counterpart and the two ministers condemned in the strongest possible terms the “despicable terrorist actions.” A spokesperson for the Iraqi embassy in Cairo said that no information has surfaced pointing to the faction responsible for the attacks. The blast that struck the Egyptian consulate was one of four explosions yesterday in the neighborhood of Mansour, home to a number of diplomatic missions. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
