Iraq launches probe into attack on Iranians: Envoy

The Iraqi government has formed an investigation committee to probe into the Friday attack on a group of Iranian pipeline workers in the country, says a top diplomat.

The committee set up on the orders of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki comprises high-ranking Iraqi military and security officials, said Iran’s Ambassador to Iraq Hassan Danaifar on Saturday.

At least 16 Iranian engineers and workers were killed in the attack and their bodies have been transferred to a morgue in the northwestern Iraqi city of Khanaqin, said the diplomat.

The attack also claimed the lives of four Iraqi workers, he added.

On Friday night, gunmen in three cars opened fire with machine guns on a group of gas pipeline workers in the al-Nida area, about 145 kilometers (90 miles) northeast of Baghdad. The pipeline is planned to connect Iraq’s gas network to energy reserves in the western Iranian city of Naft Shahr.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the attack and said an investigation had been launched to determine the full circumstances of the terrorist act.

Danaifar said that the attack was aimed at disrupting public services and effective development projects whose timely implementation would prove the efficiency of the Iraqi government.

The diplomat dismissed the likelihood that the incident was a terrorist act against Iran, and argued that the attack targeted the people of Iraq since they are the main beneficiaries of the project

Danaifar noted that escalation of terrorist attacks in Iraq are not unexpected in the lead-up to the country’s parliamentary elections in April 2014 and called on the Iraqi political groups to act vigilantly with respect to such incidents.