Berlin
Five Iraqi dissidents burst into the Iraqi Embassy in Berlin this week and briefly took several people hostage before being arrested. Among the hostages was the acting Iraqi ambassador, Shamil Mohammed. The group, which called itself the Democratic Iraqi Opposition of Germany, released a statement saying, “The liberation of Iraqi soil begins today. We are taking over the Iraqi Embassy in Berlin, and with this the first step in the liberation of our beloved fatherland.” It said the hostage-taking would be “temporary”—and in fact German police stormed the embassy and arrested the men after just five hours. Mainstream Iraqi opposition groups, such as the Iraqi National Congress, said they had never heard of the German group.
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