British charity mine clearer killed in Iraq ambush

12.00pm

LONDON - Gunmen ambushed and killed a British bomb expert working in Iraq for a mine clearance charity, the charity said today.

A spokesman for Mines Advisory Group (MAG) said Ian Rimell, 53, was shot dead by gunmen yesterday afternoon while returning to the northern city of Mosul from work in the countryside in a car clearly marked with the charity's emblem.

Iraqi colleague Salem Ahmed Mohammed was critically injured and in a hospital in Mosul, he said.

Earlier that day, Rimell had helped clear ammunition and hidden explosives from a scrap heap and delivered the material to a school for rebuilding. The father of three was a recipient of a British medal for his humanitarian work.

"MAG's staff are devastated by the loss of their good friend and colleague. He was a dedicated humanitarian who worked so well with the local people," the charity's Executive Director Lou McGrath said.

Many humanitarian aid groups have scaled back their operations in Iraq since a bombing devastated the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad last month.

- REUTERS


Herald Feature: Iraq