BAGHDAD, July 5: Bahrain’s top diplomat to Iraq was wounded on Tuesday in an apparent kidnap attempt three days after the abduction of Egypt’s ambassador designate, as the Iraqi government chastised diplomats for travelling without protection.

A spokesman for the Iraqi government said Egypt’s Ihab al-Sharif, who was appointed ambassador on June 1 but was yet to present his credentials, may have contacted groups close to his captors, which compromised his security.

As US President George Bush hailed the sacrifices made in rebuilding Iraq, violence continued to rage, with four women gunned down on their way to work at Baghdad airport.

Gunmen aboard a pick-up truck opened fire on Hassan al-Ansari, the Bahraini charge d’affaires, while he was travelling in his car with diplomatic-licence plates in the upscale Mansur district, an interior ministry source said.

Yarmuk hospital said Ansari was treated for a gunshot wound in his right shoulder before leaving with guards.

Witnesses said Mr Anasri 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.

Mr Ansari’s car slowed down, but when the men ran after him he accelerated and managed to get away.

Two hundred meters further on, Mr Ansari stopped in a street called 14 Nissan 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.”—AFP