Slovakia condemns attack on US Embassy in Baghdad

The Slovak Foreign and European Affairs Ministry has resolutely condemned Tuesday's (December 31) attack on the US embassy in Baghdad and called on the Iraqi authorities to take measures aimed at preventing similar acts of violence in the future, TASR learnt from the ministry's press department on Thursday. "This act of violence breaks the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations," stated the ministry, which stressed that the Iraqi Government and its security forces are obliged to provide continual protection to diplomatic missions, their premises and staff. Demonstrators attacked the US Embassy complex in Baghdad on December 31 after US forces on Sunday (December 29) carried out air raids on positions held by Shiite militant organisation Hezbollah Brigade. Washington has blamed the group for Friday's (December 27) attack on a base in northern Iraq in which one American was killed.