Bomb explodes near U.S. ambassador's convoy in Iraq

A small roadside bomb narrowly missed a vehicle carrying the U.S. ambassador to Iraq on Sunday. Ambassador Christopher Hill was traveling in a U.S. State Department convoy in southern Iraq when the bomb exploded, causing minor damage to the vehicle directly in front of his, he said. No one was injured. "There was a bang and we went through a thick cloud of smoke," Hill told USA TODAY. "We are all fine." A USA TODAY reporter was traveling in a separate U.S. convoy a few minutes behind Hill's in Nasiriyah, a relatively peaceful city where Hill had just finished meeting with local political leaders. The attack against the senior U.S. diplomat comes less than two weeks after most U.S. troops were withdrawn from Iraq's cities. The bombing demonstrates that, even in some of Iraq's safest cities, militants are still taking aim at the U.S. presence. Maj. Myles Caggins, a U.S. military spokesman, described the bomb that hit the convoy as small. He said that it was unclear if the assailants knew they were targeting the ambassador, though he said it is rare for Western civilian convoys–which regularly run through the city–to come under attack here. Security for the convoy of armored SUVs was provided by the State Department?s regional security office. Nasiriyah is Iraq's fourth largest city and is the capital of Dhi Qar province. A large U.S. military base sits on the edge of the city. Even before the June 30 deadline for U.S. troops to be out of Iraq's cities, the city was peaceful enough that coalition forces here had been mostly dedicated to training and equipping Iraqi forces.