US ambassador has been caught up in many attacks
Source: AP
Ryan Crocker, the U.S.
ambassador to Afghanistan, has been caught up in a number of attacks
over the course of his diplomatic career:
-Sept.
13, 2011: Taliban insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades and
assault rifles at the U.S. Embassy as part of a series of attacks in
Kabul, the Afghan capital. No Embassy staff members were killed or
wounded, and it was not immediately clear if Crocker was in the building
at the time.
-March 29, 2007: Multiple
suicide bombers struck in predominantly Shiite markets in Baghdad and in
a town north of the capital, killing at least 104 people and wounding
scores on the same day that Crocker, the new U.S. ambassador to Iraq,
was sworn in at the heavily fortified Green Zone.
-Dec.
19, 1998: Crocker was ambassador to Syria when hundreds of protesters
in Damascus attacked his residence and the U.S. Embassy, throwing stones
and breaking windows as a way of denouncing U.S. air strikes on Iraq.
Protesters climbed the wall surrounding the house, broke down the front
door and stormed inside. The ambassador's wife, Christine Crocker,
escaped unhurt.
-Jan. 19, 1991: Crocker was
ambassador to Lebanon when he and his staff were helicoptered directly
from the Beirut embassy compound to Cyprus because of fears the
diplomats would be attacked by terrorists.
-April
18, 1983: A suicide bomber in a pickup truck loaded with explosives
rammed into the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing more than 60
people. Crocker, the embassy's third-ranking diplomat, escaped without
major injuries.
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