A car bomb exploded Tuesday at the gates of the Turkish embassy in Baghdad, killing two people including the driver and injuring two or three others, witnesses and U.S. soldiers said.
However, there are conflicting reports on the number of people killed and wounded in the explosion. According to Iraqi police officials, the bomber was killed and six people, including two embassy guards, were injured in the blast.
Turkish NTV television said two embassy employees were injured.
According to witnesses, the car tried to ram through the gates of the embassy at afternoon and suddenly exploded. U.S. soldiers and Iraqi police sealed off the area.
Meanwhile, in Ankara, a Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman
strongly condemned the attack and said the incident shows "how grave the security situation in Iraq is" and "how strong the need is for everyone to immediately contribute to ensure security and stability in the country."
"The attacks confirm the necessity for all members of the international community to display unity and help deal with this security problem. It is obvious that progress cannot be achieved in other fields as long as the security problem is not resolved," according to a Foreign Ministry statement.
Earlier, Anatolia news agency reported that in the attack, two Turkish embassy employees were injured.
Earlier this week, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stood by his government's decision to send troops to Iraq, defying opposition from both the Iraqi leadership and Turkish public opinion.
"We believe we have the resposibility to do our share in order to help establish the peace and stability the Iraqi people desire and alleviate the hardships ensuing after the war," Erdogan told the first congress of his Justice and Development Party in Ankara on Sunday.
"This responsibility arises from historical and geographical ties," he said.
Overriding vocal public opposition, the AKP earlier pushed through parliament a motion to send troops to Iraq for a maximum of one year in response to a U.S. request for assistance. (Albawaba.com)
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