Related Event: Iraq in Transition

Iraqi gunmen ambushed two more Muslim diplomats Tuesday, wounding Bahrain's top envoy. A Pakistani diplomat escaped unhurt.

Bahrain's charge d'affaires in Iraq, Hassan al-Ansari was wounded after unknown attackers opened fire on him in the Harithiyah neighbourhood of western Baghdad.

An anonymous police officer said Ansari was shot by several bullets before he was taken to hospital.

Hours later, the Pakistani envoy to Iraq escaped unhurt when his convoy was attacked by gunmen in two cars in Baghdad's western district of Mansour.

The gunmen fled the scene after his bodyguards returned fire. Nobody was hurt in the attack.

Both envoys have temporarily left the country.

These attacks follow Sunday's abduction of Egyptian envoy Ihab al-Sherif, whose whereabouts are still unclear.

He was kidnapped by a group of gunmen near the Egyptian consulate in western Baghdad.

A web statement in the name of Al-Qaida in Iraq has claimed responsibility for his kidnapping and says they are holding the diplomat.