Bomb explosions near the Polish embassy in Baghdad on Monday have no relation to Polish troops stationing in Iraq, Polish Defense Minister Aleksander Szczyglo said.

 

"I called on the opposition parties in August to refrain from treating Polish foreign military missions abroad as an element of the election campaign," Szczyglo was quoted by Polish PAP news agency as saying.

 

"Now I can repeat that call because recent statements of some of the opposition politicians have been unwise, dangerous and careless and risky for Polish troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan ... Carelessness in statements concerning this matter is dangerous for our soldiers there," the minister said.

 

The Monday bomb attack on the Polish embassy in Baghdad was no coincidence, according to former Minister of Defense Radek Sikorski, who is from the opposite Platform Civic party.

 

"Terrorists launch attacks to bring about political consequences. Perhaps their chief motivation is to strike in the course of the election campaign (in Poland)," he said.

 

According to reports, a car bomb near Polish embassy in Baghdad's Arrasat neighborhood was detonated on Monday, killing a civilian and wounding five other Iraqis.

 

Last Wednesday, Polish Ambassador to Iraq Edward Pietrzyk was wounded in three roadside bomb explosions near his convoy in the neighborhood. An agent of the Polish Government Protection Office (BOR) aboard was killed.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 9, 2007)