Iraq Asks Muslim States for Support After Envoy's Killing

By JOHN F. BURNS
Published: July 9, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 8 - Iraq's transitional government reached out anxiously on Friday to Arab and other Muslim nations, asking them not to be intimidated by the killing of Egypt's top diplomat here by an Islamic terrorist group linked to Al Qaeda.

The appeal, in a Foreign Ministry statement, reflected concern that the killing of the diplomat, Ihab al-Sharif, 51, would derail attempts to draw stronger diplomatic support for the Baghdad government, particularly from other Arab nations.

Mr. Sharif, designated to become Egypt's ambassador here, was abducted last Saturday and later killed by the group calling itself Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, which has vowed to mete out similar punishment to other diplomats from Muslim nations.

'The criminals wanted by this act to terrorize Arab and Islamic countries and deter them from upgrading their diplomatic missions in Iraq,' the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in its statement on the killing. 'Arab and Islamic countries are asked to prove their seriousness in combating terrorism by assigning ambassadors to Baghdad so that they send the right message to the terrorists.'"