Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said Friday that the size of Egypt's diplomatic mission in Baghdad will be scaled down.

Addressing a press conference here, Abul Gheit said reducing the number of the Egyptian mission staff will take place at the current stage and for a certain time.

The step aims to protect the lives of members of the mission, he said, adding that the Egyptian flag would continue to fly over the embassy in Baghdad.

Egypt's Ambassador-designate to Baghdad Ihabel-Sharif was kidnapped near his home in Baghdad on Saturday. The Al-Qaida in Iraq announced his death Thursday in an Internet statement.

The Egyptian ambassador to the UN has been instructed to seek a UN Security Council resolution condemning the heinous crime of killing the Egyptian diplomat, said the top Egyptian diplomat.

The world community must realize the danger posed to the lives of diplomats in Baghdad and elsewhere and the need that diplomatic missions anywhere must be well cared for and protected, he added.

(Xinhua News Agency July 9, 2005)