| Gunmen have fatally wounded a senior official of Iraq’s foreign ministry in Baghdad, a foreign ministry official says.Attackers fired at the car of Bassam Qubba, the director- general of the ministry, as he was on his way to work on Saturday from his home in the Adhamiya district, said the official, who asked not to be identified.Qubba, appointed director-general of the ministry two months ago, died in hospital at about 8:30 a.m. (5:30 a.m.).Qubba, a Shi’ite Muslim from the holy city of Najaf, was the first senior official to be assassinated in Iraq since a new interim government took office on June 1 with a pledge to make security its top priority. Qubba was a career diplomat who had served as Iraq’s ambassador to China during Saddam Hussein’s rule. |