Polish Diplomat Hurt in Iraq Attack

BAGHDAD — The Polish ambassador to Iraq was slightly wounded and two civilians, including a bodyguard, were killed in a roadside bomb attack today in downtown Baghdad, according to Polish government officials.

General Edward Pietrzyk was being treated for burns and "is going to be fine," Deputy Ambassador Waldemar Figaj said.

A civilian passer-by died after at least two roadside bombs were detonated around 10 a.m., an Iraqi police official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. A Polish security guard, believed to be Mr. Pietrzyk's driver, died at the hospital a short time later, a spokesman for the Polish Foreign Ministry, Robert Szaniawski, said.

At least 11 people, including three security guards with the convoy, were also wounded in the attack in the Karradah neighborhood, police said. The guards worked for Poland's Government Protection Office, which is responsible for the security of Polish officials in Iraq, the agency's spokesman, Dariusz Aleksandrowicz, said.

Mr. Szaniawski said the attack, which took place a few hundred yards from the Polish Embassy, seemed to target the ambassador.

"We still don't have the reasons for the attack," he said, adding that the embassy is not in the heavily fortified Green Zone.

Prime Minister Kaczynski of Poland said the attack would not weaken his countrymen's resolve to fight terrorism in Iraq.

"Backing out before terrorists is the worst possible solution and I trust that the Poles, who are a brave nation, will not desert the battlefield," he said. "We must fight terrorism and that entails a certain risk."

Poland, a staunch American ally, contributed combat troops to the 2003 American-led war in Iraq, and has since led a multinational division south Baghdad. About 900 Polish troops are stationed there training Iraqi personnel; 21 have died during the conflict.