- AL-TANF, Syria (Reuters)
- The Russian ambassador to Iraq arrived in Syria from Baghdad on Monday
in a diplomatic convoy which he said had come under fire from U.S. forces
in Iraq, injuring five people.
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- "After leaving Baghdad...we faced a number of American
armoured vehicles, tanks and guns," Ambassador Vladimir Titorenko
told reporters near the border, adding the convoy had stopped when they
saw military vehicles.
-
- "There was shooting (at us), and some hand grenades
were thrown at other vehicles," he said. "We tried to warn them,
but they fired at us directly, and the shooting continued for about 40
minutes."
-
- A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said five Russian
diplomats were injured in the attack on Sunday. Titorenko, who was driving
his own car, said his driver had been left behind in Iraq to be treated
for "serious injuries" sustained in the attack.
-
- He told the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television it was
clear that the convoy, which included diplomats and journalists, were "foreigners
and not Arabs".
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- "The economic advisor tried by hand signals to explain
to them we were foreigners but instead of responding to him, they opened
fire on him...and now his head has been injured," he said.
-
- "I immediately notified Moscow and immediately notified
the embassy that Americans opened fire on a Russian embassy car and above
all the car of the Russian ambassador," he said.
-
- Titorenko said three or four civilian cars were close
by and two people in those cars were killed.
-
- The U.S. Army said it had no troops in the Baghdad suburb
where the incident took place, but a Russian television correspondent who
had been in the convoy said it had been caught in crossfire between U.S.
and Iraqi forces.
-
- On Monday the convoy arrived at Syria's al-Tanf border
crossing and was met by officials from the Russian embassy in Damascus.
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- "I saw six cars with Iraqi diplomatic number plates
including the (Russian) ambassador's car," a Reuters cameraman at
the border said. "He was driving his car which had two bullet holes
in it, one in the glass and one on the driver's side. The other cars also
had bullet holes."
-
- Diplomatic sources said the convoy was expected to drive
to the embassy in Damascus before flying home.
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