BAGHDAD - Bahrain`s top diplomat in Iraq was wounded in an ambush Tuesday and the Pakistani ambassador narrowly escaped an assassination attempt, as insurgents targeted Muslim envoys in an apparent new tactic.
Three days after the abduction of Egypt`s envoy, the Iraqi government`s spokesman said the attacks were a "a message of terror" to dissuade governments from expanding ties with the war-torn country.
Pakistani ambassador Yunis Khan said two cars came up from behind and fired on his vehicle as he was around a kilometre (half a mile) from his residence in the capital`s central Mansur district.
"I am safe but it was a very narrow escape," Khan told AFP. "We sped out of danger but it was an extremely dangerous situation."
An embassy official, who did not wish to be identified, said the attack provoked a firefight between Khan`s guards and the assailants. "The guards were quick to take the precautionary measures," he said
Khan was appointed in mid-April and was accepted as ambassador in mid-June, according to the official. "This a new thing that we have to confront," said the official.
Earlier, gunmen aboard a pickup truck opened fire on Hassan al-Ansari, the Bahraini charge d`affaires, while he was travelling in his car with diplomatic-license plates also in Mansur, an interior ministry source said.
Ansari was treated at Yarmuk hospital for a gunshot wounds before leaving with guards.
Witnesses said he was ambushed by at least eight gunmen after leaving his residence.
"Two men got out of their cars and screamed at him `get out of your car` and at me `get back inside`," a butcher shop owner said.
Instead, the diplomat kept going, and two of the men shot at him with an assault rifle and pistol, he said.
Ansari`s car slowed down, but when the men ran after him he accelerated and managed to get away.
Two hundred meters further on, Ansari stopped near a policeman and cried out: "I am a diplomat, help me!".
The policeman named Adel said "he was bleeding a lot. His suit, case and car were covered with blood. A short time later, a police patrol passed by and took him to the hospital."
Neither the rich Gulf kingdom of Bahrain or Pakistan have contributed troops to the US-led coalition in Iraq to make them obvious targets of insurgents. Bahrain is home though to a large US naval base.
Meanwhile, no group has yet claimed responsibility for abducting Egypt`s Ihab al-Sharif, who was set to become the first ambassador from an Arab nation to Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Sharif was also the first head of mission to be abducted since Iraq`s hostage crisis began.
The Iraqi government`s spokesman expressed surprise Sharif was traveling on Baghdad`s perilous roads without much protection and said that his security may have been compromised by contacts he may have had with political groups with ties to insurgents.
"The only advice we give is that if a diplomat from this mission or another wants to contact political groups that may be close to armed groups then the least he can do is tell the government which can bear some responsibility," Leith Kubba told reporters.
"We do not know the circumstances (surrounding Sharif`s kidnapping) but this is one of the possibilities."
Kubba said the targeting of foreign diplomats is part of a calculated effort by insurgents to discourage countries from dealing with the Iraqi government.
"It is a message of terror to other diplomatic missions not to expand their presence in Iraq," he said
"No doubt it is negative and we condemn it, but in the big scheme of things it will not affect our progress."
Insurgents briefly held another Egyptian diplomat in July 2004 and also kidnapped an Iranian envoy, but both were later released unharmed.
In further violence, four female employees at Baghdad airport were killed and three others wounded when the minibus transporting them to work was attacked in Baghdad`s western Ameriyah area, an interior ministry source said.
Seven Iraqis, including three soldiers, were killed in various attacks north of Baghdad, said security sources.
And convoy of western security guards was hit in a roadside bomb outside the Iranian embassy damaging a vehicle and wounding one Iraqi civilian, said the US military.
A US patrol also hit a roadside bomb in southeastern Baghdad causing "several casualties," said the military without elaborating.

07/05/2005 12:39 GMT