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"I cannot but condemn this senseless and brutal killing of innocent diplomats," Annan said.
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ALGIERS,
July 28, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – World
countries expressed shock and grief over the atrocious killing of the
two Algerian diplomats in Iraq, kidnapped last week by Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi's
Qaeda group.
The
European Union Thursday, July 28, slammed the killing, saying their
deaths would not stop the international community strengthening
relations with Baghdad.
"I
wish to express my profound shock and utter condemnation on learning
of the murder of Ali Belaroussi and Azzedine Belkadi," EU foreign
policy chief Javier Solana said in a statement released in Brussels,
according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"I
extend my heartfelt condolences to the families and to the government
and people of Algeria," said Solana, who is traveling in
Southeast Asia.
External
relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner also expressed her
condemnation in a statement released overnight.
"Such
acts cannot bring closer a better future for Iraq. Only democratic
solutions will bring justice for all Iraq's communities," she
said.
"Perpetrators
of this type of unjustified actions must understand that they will not
deter the international community from supporting the Iraqis and
deepening our ties with them."
In
a statement on the Internet on Wednesday, the group under Al-Qaeda's
main henchman in Iraq, Al-Zarqawi, said it had assassinated the
diplomats.
Egypt,
a fellow Arab country that went through the same tragedy weeks ago,
condemning the killing of the Algerian envoys, saying it had shared
the same grief when its own envoy to Iraq was murdered in early July.
"The
foreign ministry is troubled by the news of the killing of the
Algerian charge d'affaires and his colleague in yet another crime
perpetrated by the hand of sinful terrorism," the Egyptian
foreign ministry said in a statement.
"The
Egyptian foreign ministry extends its heartfelt condolences to
Algeria's brotherly diplomatic corps and shares its grief since martyr
ambassador Ihab Al-Sharif, Egypt's charge d'affaires in Iraq, was also
murdered by the same sinful group," it added.
Confirmation
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Ali Belaroussi (file photo). (Reuters)
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The
Algerian government confirmed the killing of its two diplomats in
Iraq, vowing to "pursue with cold determination" those
behind the killings, Reuters reported.
"The
hostage takers have cowardly assassinated our two representatives in
Baghdad, Ali Belaroussi and Azzedine Belkadi, thus carrying out their
despicable threats despite all the appeals and exhortations launched
everywhere for their liberation," it said in a statement
Wednesday.
"The
President of the Republic expresses his sincere condolences to the
families and the close ones of the deceased," it added.
Staff
at Algeria's Foreign Ministry earlier held a minute of silence for the
diplomats and Foreign Minister Mohamed Bedjaoui went to meet the
envoys' families, a government official said.
Shock
UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan also condemned the atrocious murder of
the Algerian envoys.
"I
cannot but condemn this senseless and brutal killing of innocent
diplomats," Annan told reporters in New York.
He
also urged the United Nations member-states to conclude an agreement
on combating terrorism.
Arab
League Secretary General Amr Moussa also expressed grief and shock
over the grisly killing, offering his condolences to the Algerian
people and government over the death of the two diplomats.
He
said the murder was a terrorist operation against the Algerian
diplomats who were undertaking their duty in Iraq, Egypt's MENA news
agency reported.
The
killings were the second murder of Arab diplomats stationed in Iraq
this month after El-Sherif was seized by gunmen on July 2 in Baghdad
and later killed.
Zarqawi's
group claimed his abduction and later his murder, labeling him “the
ambassador of the infidels” and citing a previous diplomatic posting
in Israel.
Sherif’s
daughter told
IslamOnline.net that her father was caring, patriotic and a
devout Muslim who was brutally killed by a bunch of terrorists in the
name of Islam.
The
International Association for Muslim Scholars (IAMS) has further
vigorously denounced the kidnapping and killing of civilians in Iraq .
“Islam
deals strictly with such a matter of bloodshed. It forbids the killing
of innocent people,” IAMS Chairman Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi has
said.
