Spanish diplomat killed in Baghdad

By Katya Adler
BBC, Madrid

Security has been tightened outside the Spanish embassy

The Spanish Government has confimed the death of one of its diplomats in Baghdad.

Jose Antonio Bernal Gomez, a Spanish military attache, was murdered outside his home in the Iraqi capital.

Security was tightened outside the Spanish embassy following the killing.

Mr Bernal Gomez worked for Spain's national intelligence centre and had been stationed in Iraq for mroe than two years.

Initial investigations into his death indicate that he was murdered outside his front door.

Spanish national radio reports say a group of men driving a car with foreign number plates rang at Mr Bernal Gomez's residence on Thursday morning.

They say he was then shot as he tried to run past them into the road.

War support

Mr Bernal Gomez is Spain's second casualty in post-war Iraq.

Navy captain Manuel Martin Oar died in the bombing of the United Nations' headquarters in Baghdad in August.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar was an unflagging supporter of the US-led war on Iraq.

Around 1,300 Spanish troops now serve with the multinational occupying force there.

Following the confirmation of Mr Bernal Gomez's death, Spain's left-wing opposition has called for Mr Aznar to report to parliament on the safety Spanish nationals in Iraq.