US bombs Palestinian Embassy in Baghdad and refugee camps in civilian neighborhoods

PNA Condemns Bombing of Palestinian Embassy in Baghdad

Tuesday, April 08 2003 @ 10:32 PM GMT

RAMALLAH - The Palestine National Authority (PNA) condemned the “aggression” launched by US fighter jets on the Palestinian embassy in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Monday.

“The US aggression on the embassy was premeditated and singled out direct targeting the Palestinian embassy, which is located in the diplomatic neighborhood in the Iraqi capital,” a PNA official spokesman said on Tuesday.

“No other embassies were targeted by bombing, which proves that the targeting of the Palestinian embassy was premeditated and not an accident,” he added.

“The embassy was hit by an air-to-ground missile launched by the US military aircraft at 04:00 p.m. (Iraq local time). The building of the embassy was severely damaged as its roof and all its contents and assets were destroyed.”

The spokesman condemned the aggression as “a flagrant violation of all diplomatic norms and laws, which endow foreign embassies with immunity, safety and consider them outside the theatre of military operations.”

The spokesman warned against any targeting of the civilian neighborhoods of the Palestinian refugees, in Iraq since 1948, in the Iraqi capital, indicating at the same time that one such neighborhood was a target of US bombing on Sunday.