Another South African has been killed in Iraq, South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) television news reported on Thursday.
Jan Strauss (36) was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad on Thursday morning while driving a car, alone.
The former police officer has been working in the country for two years as a bodyguard.
The Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed the death but could not immediately provide any details.
Spokesperson Nomfanelo Kota said the man’s employer had undertaken to provide the relevant particulars to the department on Friday.
Until then, the department could not confirm the man’s identity, Kota said.
The SABC did not identify the source of its information.
Between 5 000 and 10 000 South Africans are believed to be in Iraq.
Three South African contractors were killed in November this year after a suicide bomber blew up a booby-trapped car outside the Green Zone, a high-security area in Baghdad.
The dead were believed to be former police task-force members, worked for Dyncorp International, a United States-based company, which recruits security personnel from around the world to serve in conflict areas.
They were apparently escorting a convoy of construction engineers in Baghdad’s Green Zone when the bomb exploded in a panel van about 10m away. — Sapa