US pro-democracy group worker killed in Baghdad

WASHINGTON, Jan 18 (Reuters) An American who worked for the National Democratic Institute, a US nonprofit group that promotes democracy, was killed with three guards when their convoy was attacked in Baghdad yesterday, the group said.

A three-car convoy carrying the worker and her security guards was attacked as they were leaving a project in Baghdad, said Les Campbell, NDI's regional director for West Asia and North Africa.

He declined to name those killed, saying NDI and the security firm were still notifying their families. He said the NDI staffer killed was an American woman and the security guards killed were Iraqi, Croatian and Hungarian citizens.

Campbell also said two other security guards were injured, one of them seriously, in the incident, adding that NDI was still piecing together information on what happened.

''Sometime mid-to-late morning in Baghdad a three-car convoy carrying one of our staff people along with a security contingent was attacked as they left a location where they were conducting an NDI programme,'' he said. ''We do not believe it was a car bomb. It was some other kind of coordinated attack.'' Campbell declined to say where the people were killed or to describe the NDI programme they were visiting, saying he did not want to compromise the group's security.

He said NDI's work in Iraq included working with political parties, parliament and Iraqi nongovernmental organisations to promote democracy.

Asked if he had any idea why the convoy was attacked, he said ''There have been no specific threats but I think in the current environment in Iraq, violence is hitting everyone.'' REUTERS PKS BST0620