Mortar blast kills Iraqi, injures 14 soldiers

A BAGHDAD mortar barrage killed an Iraqi and injured 14 coalition soldiers yesterday, while a senior Egyptian diplomat returned to work a day after being released by militants.

Gunmen also killed a hospital official south of the capital.

The release of Mohammed Mamdouh Helmi Qutb, the third ranking diplomat at the Egyptian mission here, came as two different militant groups threatened to kill four new foreign hostages in an increasingly audacious wave of kidnappings in Iraq. A third group threatened attacks to cut off the highway between Jordan and Baghdad, a key supply route for the US military.