US ambassador Hill escapes Iraq roadside bomb attack
Updated: Monday, July 13, 2009
Photographer: US State Department Photo
Christopher Hill
11:00GMT—7:00AM/EST
Washington, 13 July (WashingtonTV)—A roadside bomb exploded near a vehicle carrying US ambassador to Baghdad, Christopher Hill, in southern Iraq, but the diplomat was unhurt, the US embassy said on Monday.
The attack on the convoy carrying Hill and other US embassy personnel occurred in Dhi Qar Province, about 300 kilometers southeast of Baghdad, on Sunday, reports Reuters.
“No personnel were injured or hurt. An investigation into the incident is taking place,” US embassy spokesperson, Susan Ziadeh, was quoted by Reuters as saying.
A reporter for the American newspaper, USA Today, who was a few minutes behind Hill in a separate convoy, said that the explosion caused minor damage to the vehicle directly in front of the one carrying Hill.
“There was a bang and we went through a thick cloud of smoke,” Hill told the daily afterwards, adding: “We are all fine.”
Hill, who assumed his post just over two months ago, was meeting with local political leaders and a group of American and Italian civilians working on reconstruction efforts there.
Anna Prouse, the Italian leader of the reconstruction team in Dhi Qar, told USA Today that she had little doubt that the attack was targeting Hill.
Sources: Reuters, USA Today newspaper
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