13 June 2004	Sunday	24 Rabi-us-Saani 1425

BAGHDAD, June 12: Gunmen killed a top diplomat on Saturday in the first high-profile assassination in Iraq since an interim government took over on June 1.

Attackers fatally wounded Bassam Qubba, the Iraqi foreign ministry's undersecretary for multinational affairs and international organizations, as he was on his way to work from his home in Baghdad's Adhamiya district.

US officials say guerillas, who often target Iraqis seen as cooperating with the Americans, are likely to step up attacks before the occupation formally ends on June 30.

In other incidents of lawlessness, kidnappers killed a Lebanese citizen, Hussein Ali Alyan, 28, and two of his Iraqi colleagues, after seizing them in Baghdad on Thursday, a Lebanese diplomat said.

Foreign ministry sources in Beirut said the bodies of the men, who worked for a Lebanese telecommunications company, had been dumped between Fallujah and Ramadi, west of the capital.

But the ordeal of seven Turks kidnapped in Falluja five days ago ended in their release on Saturday. The seven employees of a Turkish contracting firm were in good health. There was no word on who had seized them or why.

Anti-US groups have kidnapped dozens of foreigners in Iraq since April. Many have been freed. Apart from Alyan, an Italian and an American hostage are known to have been killed.

TARGETED KILLING: Iraqi foreign ministry spokesman Thamer al Adhami said Mr Qubba's assailants had overtaken his car and fired as they drove past, fatally wounding the official in the waist.

Mr Qubba, a Shia, was appointed to his post two months ago. He was a veteran career diplomat who served as ambassador to China during Saddam Hussein's Baathist rule.

A foreign ministry statement said the killing bore "the hallmarks of leftover supporters of Saddam Hussein's evil regime". Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said the government "will not be scared or intimidated by Saddamists".

Last month, a suicide car bomb killed the head of the Governing Council in Baghdad, and another Governing Council member survived an ambush south of the capital.

In other attacks on Saturday, a roadside bomb wounded three Iraqi policemen and a civilian in Baquba, 65kms north of Baghdad. The US army said two soldiers were wounded by a second roadside bomb outside the town.

The new interim government, which set security as its top priority when it was sworn in on June 1, has won cautious backing from radical Shia leader Moqtada al Sadr. "We accept the interim government if it rejects the occupation and sets a timeframe for its withdrawal," Sheikh Jaber al Khafaji said in a Friday sermon.-Reuters