France strongly condemned the bomb attack that killed 11 people and injured 57 outside the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad on Thursday.

"The French government most strongly condemns the attack that targeted the embassy of Jordan in Baghdad. France expresses her full solidarity with Jordan," said spokesman of the French Foreign Ministry Herve Ladsous.

The blast occurred at 11:05 a.m. local time (0705 GMT). Five Iraqi policemen were reportedly among the dead and seven of the injured were from inside the embassy compound in the western part of Baghdad.

Jordan did not take part in the war to oust Saddam Hussein, but it hosted hundreds of US troops in the name of protecting its land and airspace during the wartime.

No group has claimed responsibility for the most deadly and the first attack against a foreign embassy in Iraq since the US troops took control of Baghdad in early April.

Security has deteriorated in Iraq as a result of a power vacuum left by the fall of the Saddam regime. Anti-American explosions were rampant in post-war Iraq and the US military blamed the attacks on the remnants of the former regime and foreign terrorists.

At least 55 US soldiers have been killed in hostile fires since US President George W. Bush declared the end of major combat on May 1.
 
(Xinhua News Agency August 8, 2003)