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 inthe 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.
