Gunmen Kill Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister

Gunmen Kill Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister

59 minutes ago

By TODD PITMAN, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunmen firing from a car killed Iraq's deputy foreign minister Saturday in the first assassination of a senior official since the new interim government was announced this month. Iraqi authorities blamed Saddam Hussein loyalists.

Bassam Salih Kubba, 60, the slain minister, was Iraq's most senior career diplomat and was slated to stay on in the new administration that takes over after June 30 from the U.S.-led occupation authority.

Kubba was mortally wounded when gunmen drove up behind his car in the city's Azimiyah district and opened fire, Foreign Ministry spokesman Thamir al-Adhami said.

The assailants then passed the stricken vehicle and fired a second time, the spokesman said. Kubba's driver escaped injury, but Kubba died in a hospital.

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=535&e=1&u=/ap/20040612/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

"The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the attack "bears all the hallmarks of leftover supporters of Saddam Hussein's evil regime.""

It would appear that significant elements of the population don't take the puppet government very seriously. These "Saddam supporters" are pretty tenacious - more likely just nationalists who want rid of foreign occupiers and anyone that collaborates with them. A lesson of history that has been forgotten.

government now, isn't it? One got killed yesterday or the day before that..one of the ministers.

This is like Deputy SoS Richard Armitage getting gunned down in the street.

We're seeing the problem of trying to hand over sovereignty when we don't have control of the country ourselves! It is becoming an unsolvable problem. It might be better to just let the Iraq adventure collapse and then deal with the consequences.