Tag Archives: Wounded

USCG Peshawar: Suicide Car Bomb Targets Consulate Car, Wounds Four Staff and More (Updated)

September 3, 2012 By in Af/Pak, Consulate General, Countries 'n Regions, Foreign Service, FSOs, Govt Documents, Locally Employed Staff, Realities of the FS, U.S. Missions Tags: , , , , , , , 2 Comments

The AP is reporting that a suicide car bomb hit an armored SUV of the US Consulate General in Peshawar.  The attack reportedly killed two Pakistanis and wounded 19 other people, including two American personnel and two local staff of the consulate, as well as policemen who were protecting the Americans.

Updated @6:49 pm PST: Our source from the US Embassy in Islamabad says that the four were in the vehicle and were saved by accompanying local police who pulled them out after the attack – two Americans and two Pakistanis were slightly wounded.  One American is in a hospital in Islamabad but injuries are not life-threatening.  All four are part of the Diplomatic Security (Regional Security Office) at the Consulate General in Peshawar.

Excerpt via ctvnews.ca:

The armored SUV from the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar was attacked as it traveled through a heavily guarded area of the city that hosts various international organizations, including the United Nations. It was unclear how the bomber penetrated the area and knew which vehicle to attack.

The car driven by the bomber was packed with 110 kilograms (240 pounds) of explosives, police said. The blast ripped apart the SUV – tossing its engine at least 6 meters (20 feet) away – and started a raging fire. Rescue workers and residents rushed to put out the fire and pull away the dead and wounded. All that was left of the SUV was a charred mass of twisted metal with a red diplomatic license plate.

Local news says that the  US consulate vehicle was at Abdara Road in University Town when targeted by the car bomb. The explosion reportedly left a crater in the road and destroyed a Jeep, damaging two others and demolishing the facing walls of four nearby houses.

Department of State Spokesperson Toria Nuland confims that four consulate staff were wounded in the attack:

“We can confirm that a vehicle belonging to the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar was hit in an apparent terrorist attack. Two U.S. personnel and two Pakistani staff of the Consulate were injured and are receiving medical treatment. No U.S. Consulate personnel were killed, but we are seeking further information about other victims of this heinous act.”

U.S. Embassy Islamabad also released the following statement by Charge d’affaires Ambassador Richard Hoagland:

“I am grateful for the humane professionalism of the local Pakistani security forces who saved the lives of the two American Diplomats and two Pakistani local staff of the U.S. Consulate General Peshawar by pulling them to safety after their vehicle was attacked. In this dangerous world where terrorists can strike at any moment, we must all work together – Pakistanis and Americans alike – because we have a strong mutual interest in defeating terrorism.”

Peshawar, Afghanistan’s Near Abroad and a Recommendation of Possible Closure

In May 2012, State/OIG released its Compliance Follow-up Review of the US Mission in Pakistan. In that CFR, the inspectors points out that Peshawar remains the most dangerous post in the Foreign Service and that it should be viewed not just as a dangerous consulate general in Pakistan but what it termed as “Afghanistan’s near abroad,” that is, a location similar to one of the provinces of Afghanistan without the NATO coalition forces.

By all calculations, Peshawar is the most dangerous post in the Foreign Service. The OIG team believes strongly that Peshawar should be viewed as “Afghanistan’s near abroad” rather than a dangerous consulate general in Pakistan. The conditions are analogous to those faced in one of the provinces of Afghanistan, without the benefit of North Atlantic Treaty Organization security. The consulate general is located in the former consul general’s residence on a Pakistani military cantonment. Security is so dire that employees are frequently required to sleep in their offices on the very confined consulate compound rather than travel to their residences in town. Despite this situation, the employees have an unflagging commitment to the mission and good morale bolstered by a sense of teamwork. Given the U.S. Government’s commitment to our continued presence in Peshawar, it is critical that more be done to assist these beleaguered personnel. They are under constant threat of terrorist attacks and harassed by local government agents, it is difficult to impossible for them to travel in the region and their present existence is analogous to a state of siege.

It appears that the OIG team also made a recommendation about the possible closure of the Consulate General in Peshawar but since it is in the security annex, presumably in the classified portion of the report, we don’t know the actual wording of the recommendation except for the following contained in the publicly released report:

Of the 27 informal recommendations in the security annex, all but 1 was closed by the CFR. Informal Recommendation 19 regarding the ability of Consulate General Peshawar to develop a way to drawdown in the event of a catastrophic incident needs to be reevaluated. It was not reissued as a formal recommendation; however, a new recommendation regarding the possible closure of Consulate General Peshawar was added.

We have a separate post drafted on the newly arrived CG in Peshawar from last week that we have not been able to post due to duties beyond this blog.  We hope to have that up in a bit.

Domani Spero

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US Mission Mexico: Mexican Federal Cops Shot at Embassy SUV and Kept Shooting

August 25, 2012 By in Countries 'n Regions, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Service, Questions, Realities of the FS, Security, U.S. Missions, WHA|Western Hemisphere Tags: , , , , , , 3 Comments

You’ve heard the news. Two US Embassy Mexico employees were wounded in the shooting of an embassy SUV with a diplomatic plate on August 24.  The wounded were described as “US Embassy officials” here. The LAT calls them “U.S. government employees” here. CNN originally described the injured as “three U.S. Marines” here.

We’ve been waiting for an official statement from the US Embassy in Mexico.  A statement finally came out late August 24, 2012. See below:

Mexico City, August 24, 2012 – This morning two U.S. Government personnel and a Mexican Navy captain were in a U.S diplomatic vehicle driving to a training facility, when they were ambushed by a group of individuals.

The vehicle attempted to escape, was pursued and sustained heavy damage.  They called for assistance from the Mexican armed forces, who responded.  The two U.S. wounded personnel were taken from the scene, given medical treatment and are in stable condition.  The Mexican Navy captain sustained no serious injuries.

The Government of Mexico has acknowledged that members of the Federal Police were involved and fired on the U.S. Embassy vehicle.  The Government of Mexico has begun an investigation and detained members of the Federal Police who were involved.

The Government of Mexico has stated it will conduct a full and thorough investigation of this incident.  The Embassy has been cooperating closely with the Mexican authorities and will assist in every way possible.

The Reuters report cites a Mexican government security official saying that the federal police had thought the vehicle belonged to a group of suspected kidnappers they were pursuing, and had opened fire on it.

“This was all because of a mix-up,” the official said.

CNN has more details:

The incident occurred at 8 a.m. Friday, when the two embassy employees and the Mexican were en route through the mountainous area to a navy facility in the municipality of Xalatlaco, according to a statement issued Friday by the Mexican Navy, which gave the following account:

The black SUV bearing a diplomatic license plate had just left the main highway that connects Mexico City with Cuernavaca and were driving on a dirt road that connects the small towns of Tres Marias and Huitzilac when a vehicle approached. When the occupants brandished firearms, the driver of the diplomatic vehicle tried to evade them and return to the main highway. At that point, the occupants sprayed bullets into the black SUV with diplomatic plates.

Moments later, another three vehicles joined the chase and fired shots at the embassy vehicle. The Mexican in the SUV called for help from the Mexican Navy personnel in nearby El Capulin who arrived after the shooting had ended and cordoned off the area.

Federal police, who were in the area working on a criminal investigation, participated in these acts, the statement said, but did not specify which vehicle or vehicles they were in.

Both embassy employees were taken — under federal police guard — to a hospital.

Photographs of the SUV showed the embassy vehicle pockmarked with more than a dozen holes and at least three of its tires flat.

Click on image to see video report

Potential to Get Swept Under the Rug?

Sylvia Longmire, a drug war cartel analyst and author of “Cartel: the Coming Invasion of Mexico’s Drug Wars” told CNN that the long-term impact of the shooting will depend on how aggressively the Mexican government pursues the investigation.

“I’m somewhat skeptical that anyone will be brought to justice in this attack,” she told CNN Saturday. “Remember, nobody knows who shot the Americans. They’re still going to have to do ballistic reports.”

Though federal police have a reputation for being among the least corrupt of Mexico’s security forces, “I’m concerned that there is a potential for this to get swept under the rug,” she said.

Read in full here.

Attacks on USG Personnel in the Last 3 Years

This is not the first incident involving shooting and death of US mission personnel in Mexico.

In February 2011, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was killed and another wounded while driving through northern Mexico.

In March 2010, three individuals connected to the US Consulate in Ciudad Juarez were killed in broad daylight. The AP says that the 2010 incident as “A drug-gang shooting in 2010 in the border city of Ciudad Juarez [that] killed a U.S. consulate employee, her husband and another man.” We still haven’t been able to connect those dots. The Barrio Azteca leader was extradited from Mexico in June this year, but the case remains toner dark.

How, where, when U.S. Consulate employee Leslie Ann Enriquez Catton, her husband Arthur Redelfs and Jorge Alberto Salcido Ceniceros, the husband of a U.S. Consulate employee were dot–connected to a drug-gang that caused their deaths, we still don’t know.

And we may never know.

Domani Spero

 

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