/ 10 May 2004

Seventh South African killed in Iraq

South Africa’s Department of Foreign Affairs on Monday reiterated its call for South Africans to avoid going to Iraq as it tried to verify a report that another South African had died in the country.

French news agency AFP reported that assailants on Monday gunned down a New Zealander, a South African and an Iraqi working for a reconstruction firm in the northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk. If confirmed, he would be the seventh South African killed in the country.

Department spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said that they were in the process of verifying the report with their contacts in Kuwait and Jordan.

”But in the meantime we reiterate the call made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs for South Africans to avoid going to Iraq given the potential danger facing them there and the fact that it is a conflict region.

There is no South African diplomatic mission in Iraq. – Sapa