Gunmen attack Arab League delegation visiting Iraq
Gunmen opened fire Monday on a convoy of cars carrying Arab League officials, wounding a policeman escorting them, as Iraq's Shiite and Kurdish leader
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Gunmen opened fire Monday on a convoy of cars carrying Arab League officials, wounding a policeman escorting them, as Iraq's Shiite and Kurdish leaders showed reluctance over the league's attempts to organize a conference to reconcile with the Sunni Arab minority.
Gunmen hiding in nearby houses started shooting as the convoy of the 10-member Arab League delegation was driving on a highway in Baghdad under police guard, said police Maj. Gen. Hussein Ali Kamal, head of intelligence at the Iraqi Interior Ministry.
Police returned fire, and one policeman was slightly wounded and a police car damaged in the gunfire, but no one Arab League members were hurt, Ali Kamal told The Associated Press.
The Arab League delegation arrived in Iraq last weekend to lay the groundwork for an Iraqi "reconciliation conference" it hopes to hold after Iraq's constitutional referendum on Saturday. It was the first time the pan-Arab organization has tried to take a direct role in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion.