Khaleej Times, 8/21/02

DUBAI - A group of refugees called the Democratic Iraqi Opposition in Germany is believed to be behind the hostage-taking in Baghdad's embassy in Berlin, an Iraqi opposition official said on Tuesday. The group was set up a few months ago among Iraqi political refugees living in Germany, said an official with the main Iraqi opposition coalition, the Iraqi National Congress (INC).

The official, who asked not to be named, said the hostage-taking had nothing to do with mainstream exiled Iraqi groups. "The policy of the opposition is to fight the dictatorship inside Iraq and not abroad and we are sticking by this policy," the official said by telephone from London, the INC headquarters. "We have never had recourse to violence outside Iraq," he added.

In Berlin, police said several people have been injured in the hostage-taking at the Iraqi embassy. Police said people who appeared to be members of an Iraqi opposition group had stormed the building in the southwestern district of Zehlendorf, leading to clashes with embassy staff. Several police vehicles had surrounded the building, witnesses said. - AFP