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(回答先: Re: Sunday November 30, 4:31 PM (英語原文) 投稿者 愚民党 日時 2003 年 12 月 14 日 23:27:04)
Sunday November 30, 4:32 PM
Two Japanese diplomats killed as they stopped en route to Iraq aid meeting
Photo: AFP
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TIKRIT, Iraq, (AFP) - Two Japanese diplomats killed in Iraq in a new blow to the US-led coalition were shot dead as they stopped at a food stall en route to Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's birthplace, where an aid conference was taking place, a US military spokesman said.
"Two Japanese were killed as they stopped at a roadside food stall, four kilometres (two and a half miles) south of Mukayshifa on the afternoon of November 29," said Colonel Bill MacDonald, spokesman for the US 4th Infantry Division, which patrols the troubled region.
"A Lebanese national was wounded in the same incident.
"The three persons had stopped for food and drink when attackers fired small-calibre weapons at them.
"The three were taken to a Tikrit hospital. The condition of the wounded individual is unknown," said MacDonald, speaking shortly before the opening of the aid conference at the fortified 4th Infantry Division's headquarters compound in Tikrit, 180 kilometers (110 miles) north of Baghdad.
Japan said the two were heading to an aid meeting in Tikrit, but US military officials would not say whether the two had planned to attend the gathering at the 4th ID base.
Mukayshifa is some 15 kilometers (10 miles) south of Tikrit.
US officials said the two diplomats did not have an American military escort.
"We did not have any of our forces traveling with that group of individuals," said Colonel James Hickey, who commands the 4th ID's 1st Brigade.
"That wasn't requested," he told journalists in Tikrit.
He said he did not know whether the group had a private security team with them.
Hickey said his troops were responsible for security in the area, but do not patrol it 24 hours a day. "When we patrol that area, we do it at set times based on the understanding of enemy forces being in that area."
In his opening remarks at the aid conference, 4th ID commander Major-General Raymond Odierno made no mention of the violent incident.
"This is about moving forward, this is about getting international participation in Iraq, this is about making Iraq a better place to live for Iraqis," Odierno said.
Among those attending the meeting was Salah el Din provincial governor Hussein al-Jaburi, who on Saturday assured the visitors Tikrit and its surroundings were perfectly safe.
"This is a secure area ... you can walk around safely," al-Jaburi said at the opening of a guesthouse for visiting aid workers. He insisted the visitors, traveling from the US base to downtown Tikrit in a heavily armed US military convoy did not need the helmets and bulle-proof vests they were wearing.
"Contrary to rumors you have heard in the past, this is a secure area," Jaburi told the visitors.
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/031130/afp/031130083240int.html