BAGHDAD -- U.S. Diplomat Ed Seitz, assigned to the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, was killed Sunday by a mortar attack near the Baghdad airport.
Seitz, the assistant regional security officer, is believed to be the first U.S. diplomat to die during the Iraq conflict, the BBC reported.
"We honor Ed's devotion to country and freedom," Secretary of State Colin Powell said in a statement. "The enemies of peace shall not shake our will. America and a free Iraq will prevail. This is what Ed gave his life for and this is what we will accomplish."
Saturday, more than 50 soldiers of the New Iraq Army were ambushed and killed as they returned home after graduating from training, Iraqi police said.
Diyala Province Police Chief Major Gen. Waleed Khalid Abdul Salam told CNN the soldiers were surprised and captured on a road near the Iranian border and appeared to have been forced to lie face down on the ground before being shot at close range.
The bodies were found in groups of 12 and 13 around midnight, about 8 hours after the ambush, Salam said.
Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman Col. Adnan Abdul Rahman told CNN the soldiers had left in three minibuses from the training camp in Kirkush, about 55 miles northeast of Baghdad, en route to their homes in Iraq's southern provinces.
