November 30, 2003	Sunday	Shawwal 5, 1424

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

MADRID, Nov 29: Seven bodies were found on Saturday at the site of an attack on Spanish intelligence officers south of Baghdad, the Spanish defence ministry said.

Coalition forces found the bodies and one wounded at the site of the attack on a convoy near Suwayrah, 30 kilometres south of the Iraqi capital, the ministry said. The wounded officer was taken for treatment to a medical center.

The group which was driving in two vehicles was on its way back to Baghdad, according to Spanish media.

A reporter for Sky television news said his team had arrived at the site before coalition forces and saw a small crowd of Iraqis around the bodies chanting praise for ousted leader Saddam Hussein.

Spanish Defence Minister Federico Trillo late Saturday held a crisis meeting on the attack.

In Baghdad, a spokesman for the Spanish contingent in Iraq earlier told AFP: “Eight agents from the Spanish national intelligence service, who were in two cars, were attacked in the south of Baghdad and there are victims.”

Three helicopters from the Spanish contingent were at the scene of the ambush and witnesses said that two vehicles were on fire and that two unidentified bodies were seen at the side of the road, Spanish-language CNN+news television reported.—AFP