BERLIN,
Aug 20 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The German police raided
the Iraqi Embassy building in Berlin late Tuesday, August 20, 2002,
freeing two hostages, both of whom were slightly hurt, and arresting
five of their abductors, news agencies reported.
"The
situation is under control," a police spokesman told journalists
at the scene, adding that the raid had been launched at 7:40 pm (1740
GMT), reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Responsibility
for the incident was claimed by a group calling itself the Democratic
Iraqi Opposition of Germany, which said in a statement that the
occupation would be a "peaceful and temporary action."
The
group claimed to have about 20 of its members in the building.
Police
confirmed that only two people were held hostage and said that they
were very pleased with the outcome of the raid.
Earlier
Tuesday, Iraq denounced the takeover of its Berlin embassy as an
"act of terrorism" on Tuesday, accusing "American and
"Zionist" intelligence services of master minding the
assault.
"The
American and Zionist intelligence services' armed and mercenary
terrorists attacked our embassy building in Berlin on Tuesday,
wounding an employee and taking the rest of our staff hostage,"
the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The
Foreign Ministry called on Germany "to take measures quickly to
oust the mercenary terrorists from the embassy building and to protect
our employees from this act of terrorism."
The
members of the previously unknown Democratic Iraqi Opposition of
Germany burst into the Iraqi Embassy in Berlin Tuesday, injuring two
people and taking a handful others hostage, German police said.
Police
said that 10 people were in the building, in the Zehlendorf
residential area in Berlin's southwest, including the hostage takers
and the Iraqi charge d'affaires Shamir Mohammed, who only arrived in
Berlin last month.
For
its part, the German Foreign Ministry condemned the hostage taking
incident at the Iraqi Embassy, calling it an unacceptable act.
The
hostage taking "is against the law and therefore
unacceptable," a ministry spokesman said.
He
said (German) Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer was being constantly
updated on developments.
A
police raid in the embassy could only come with Iraqi permission and
the man responsible for taking that decision, charge d’affaires
Shamir Mohammed, was among the hostages
