Britain has issued swift condemnation of the killing of the head of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council in a suicide car-bomb explosion in Baghdad.
Britain's foreign secretary, Jack Straw, arriving for a meeting of EU ministers in Brussels, reacted strongly to the killing of Izzidin Salim.
?What this shows is that is that the terrorists and insurgents in Iraq are trying to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power from the occupiers to the Iraqi people and that these terrorists are enemies of the Iraqi people themselves.?
Britain steadfastly maintains that that transfer date will not change.
At the same time, British Prime Minister Tony Blair's office added his condemnation to the killing and insisted the U.S.-led coalition was undeterred in its efforts to help the Iraqis.
A spokesman for the prime minister said, in his words, that this sort of attack strengthens our resolve and underlines what is at stake.