Press: Czech police to keep guarding embassies in Baghdad and Islamabad

Czech police will continue to guard the country’s embassies in Iraq and Pakistan, the newspaper Lidové noviny reported. The police are not required by law to protect Czech diplomatic missions abroad, and ending the service would have saved the force 40 million crowns a year. However, Interior Minister Radek John said that after talks with Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg it was decided that the police should continue to provide security at the embassies in Baghdad and Islamabad, which are considered to be at risk. The Czech ambassador to Pakistan was killed in a hotel bombing two years ago. The country’s embassy in Afghanistan is guarded by Czech soldiers.

Author: Ian Willoughby