France firmly condemned the assassination of a Spanish intelligence officer at his home in Baghdad Thursday amid an outbreak of violence which killed 10 other people.
French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, who was informed of the news following a working breakfast in Paris with his Spanish counterpart Ana Palacio, has sent a message of profound sympathy with this cruel event, said Herve Ladsous, spokesman of the Foreign Ministry.
"France renews its condemnation of all acts of terrorism that claimed numerous victims among the Iraqi civilians," the spokesman added.
During their working breakfast, de Villepin and Palacio talked about the preparation of the coming Franco-Spanish summit and principal international issues, he said.
Jose Antonio Bernal Gomez, 34, a military attache and intelligence official of the Spanish embassy stationed in Baghdad since 2001, was killed when he opened his door to a gang of gunmen.
He was the second Spanish diplomat killed in Iraq since the end of major combat operations in the country in early May.
On Aug. 19, Spanish naval captain Manuel Martin Oar was injured in the suicide bombing against the UN headquarters in Baghdad. He died of cerebral trauma hours later.
Spain, which joined the US-led coalition in Iraq, now has 1,250 soldiers stationed in Iraq under Polish command.
Also on Thursday, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a Baghdad police station, killing eight people, and a US soldier died in a rocket-propelled grenade attack outside Baghdad.
(Xinhua News Agency October 10, 2003)
