Egypt names new ambassador to Iraq after 4 year gap

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt will send an ambassador to Iraq for the first time since their envoy was killed by al Qaeda militants in 2005, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

The ministry described Sharif Kamal Shahine as a veteran diplomat with 27 years experience, including postings in Tokyo, Athens and Beirut.

Egypt will send a team of diplomats and administrative staff to its embassy in Baghdad within weeks, the statement added. It did not say when Shahine would arrive.

The previous envoy, Ihab al-Sharif, was kidnapped and killed in July 2005, one month into his posting, amid a wave of killings blamed on former al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Relations between the two countries have improved since then, with Egypt's foreign and oil ministers visiting in October last year. At that time an embassy was nearing completion.

The Arab League's envoy in Baghdad is also Egyptian.

(Writing by Alastair Sharp; Editing by Samia Nakhoul)