The war on Arab diplomats declared in Iraq?

Attacks against diplomats in Baghdad are becoming a common practice among Iraqi insurgents. Saturday night new Egypt's envoy to Baghdad was kidnapped in the Iraqi capital, and Bahrain's top envoy in Baghdad was wounded Tuesday.

Bahrain's top envoy in Baghdad was wounded Tuesday in the second attack against an Arab diplomat in Iraq in a week. A major Sunni Arab group called on Sunnis to take part in future elections - a move that could be a blow to the insurgency, believes the AP.

The Bahraini diplomat, Hassan Malallah al-Ansari, was shot on his way to work in the Mansour district of western Baghdad, said Dr. Muhanad Jawad of Yarmouk Hospital. Al-Ansari was treated for a shoulder wound and was released, witnesses said.

The incident occurred three days after gunmen kidnapped Egypt's top envoy to Iraq, Ihad al-Sherif, and both attacks appeared to signal an insurgent campaign to discourage Arab countries from bolstering diplomatic ties to the U.S.-backed Iraqi government.

Sunni Arab cleric Harith al-Dhari condemned all kidnappings, calling them "a bad phenomenon that emerged after the occupation of Iraq by America and its allies," reports Aljazeera. Also on Tuesday, four female employees at Baghdad airport were killed and three others wounded after armed men attacked the minibus taking them to work, said an Interior Ministry source.

The attack happened at about 8am (0400 GMT) in Ameriyah, a tense area in western Baghdad and was followed by clashes between armed men and Iraqi security forces, the source said, adding it was unclear yet if there were any casualties from the fighting.

The spread of violence against Shiite officials is also a concern for peacekeepers. The AP reported Friday of killing an aide to Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric. The oldest member of the Iraqi parliament Shiite Dhari Ali al-Fayadh, 87, was killed last Tuesday by a suicide car bomb near Baghdad.