German Police Storm Iraq Embassy to Free Hostages

21/08/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTS: German Police Operation Lasts Less than 2 Minutes||Washington Denies any Contacts with the Group||Attackers Barricade themselves in a Consulate Room with Tied up Iraqi Mission Chief and Designated Successor||Five Attackers Include Former Army Members & Independent Kurds||Group Says it Intended to Send Message to Schroeder, Opposed to Military Action against Iraq||Baghdad Condemns Siezure of its Embassy|| STORY: Masked German police stormed the Iraqi Embassy in Berlin on Tuesday, bringing to a bloodless conclusion a six-hour hostage-taking by five Iraqi dissidents demanding an end to President Saddam Hussein's rule.

Two shots were fired as the Iraqi men seized the building, although it was not clear by whom.

One of four embassy workers taken hostage was slightly hurt after the dissidents released some kind of gas. The other hostages were treated for shock.

The hostage takers had said in a statement their action was a "first step in the liberation of our beloved fatherland."

Ehrhart Koerting, interior minister in the city state of Berlin, told a news conference after the operation: "I have the pleasure of reporting that this ended without any bloodshed."

More than 30 elite German police officers wearing black masks and carrying rifles were involved in the operation that lasted less than two minutes. Police fired no shots and the five hostage takers did not resist arrest, officials said.

Permission for the storming was only obtained from Iraq half an hour beforehand. Baghdad had condemned the occupation as "terrorist aggression" by what it dubbed mercenaries from Israeli and U.S. intelligence services.

Washington denied any contacts with the group, saying the action undermined "legitimate efforts" to overthrow Saddam.

Marin Textor, the officer leading the police operation, said: "It was very fast, you see these kinds of things on television and this was even faster. I'm very pleased it was conducted in a prudent fashion and not in a Rambo manner."

OBSCURE GROUP

The members of the previously unknown group, calling itself the Democratic Iraqi Opposition of Germany, had entered the building in the afternoon and threatened staff with weapons.

Police said they knocked a loaded 8 mm pistol out of the hands of one of the men. They also found gas pistols, an electric shock device and an ax in the embassy.

Two embassy staff, a man and a woman, were released before police stormed the building. The two other hostages, the Iraqi mission chief and his designated successor, were found tied up. The dissidents had barricaded themselves in a room with them.

State prosecutor Juergen Heinke told the news conference the dissidents could face prison if convicted of hostage taking. Police said the five men were in their mid-30s, but they had few other details about them.

After the siege ended, a group of Iraqi men paraded outside the building, shouting slogans and waving an Iraqi flag and pictures of Saddam in gilt frames.

Germany has full diplomatic relations with Baghdad, but has not exchanged ambassadors since the Gulf War in 1991. The head of the mission is Iraqi First Secretary Shamil A. Mohammed.

The embassy, in a leafy southern suburb of Berlin and only a few miles from the heavily secured U.S. Consulate, was not guarded by German police, but was checked on routine patrols.

"The Iraqi Embassy was not considered to be especially endangered. This will now be re-examined," Koerting said.

A spokesman for the group based in Hamburg, speaking to Reuters from outside the embassy shortly before the siege ended, said the men had entered the building unarmed. He said a member of the Iraqi secret service had fired off a shot.

He added that the five were all asylum seekers who had come to Germany in the past year. "We did not break any law. We marched peacefully into the embassy."

Berlin's Koerting said police had repeatedly, but vainly, tried to contact the assailants to discuss their demands.

MESSAGE FOR SCHROEDER

One senior Iraqi opposition source in London said the group included former Iraqi army members and independent Kurds who did not follow the two militias controlling northern Iraq.

The source said targeting the Berlin embassy was intended to send a message to Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who has recently criticized possible U.S. action to remove the Iraqi leader.

Schroeder's stance, seen as an attempt to woo anti-war voters a month ahead of German elections, has caused tension with Washington. U.S. Ambassador to Berlin Daniel Coats held talks with German officials last week to query policy on Iraq.

Schroeder has spoken of "unconditional solidarity" with the United States since Sept. 11, but has also warned that any pre-emptive strike against Baghdad could destroy support for the U.S.-led war on terror and hurt the global economy.

Baghdad condemned the seizing of its embassy.

"Armed terrorists from the mercenaries of the American and Zionist intelligence services attacked our embassy in Berlin," the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Iraqi National Congress, the country's main opposition group in exile, condemned the occupation by what it called an obscure organization not representing the opposition.

PHOTO CAPTION

A German special forces policeman secures the area in front of the Iraqi embassy in the Berlin district of Zehlendorf, August 20, 2002 as an Iraqi opposition party occupies the building. A group calling itself the Democratic Iraqi Opposition of Germany issued a statement in German saying it was launching a peaceful and temporary action to press its demands for an end to the rule of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. (Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters)