Seven Spanish intelligence agents were killed in a single ambush in Iraq in November 2003. Eight agents from the Centro Nacional de Inteligencia were temporarily working together in preparation for a handoff of responsibilities, when four incoming agents would replace the four who preceded them in country. After a meeting in Baghdad’s Green Zone, the eight agents were returning to Diwaniya, where Spanish coalition forces were headquartered when they were attacked on the main road in a town called Latifiya. Driving in two unarmored SUVs, the small convoy was overtaken from behind by gunmen in a white Cadillac which fired into both vehicles, immediately killing two agents and wounding two others. The vehicles stopped and were soon fired upon by men from several nearby buildings. The CNI agents were armed only with pistols and a single Steyr TMP submachine gun, facing heavily armed insurgents. One agent named Jose Manuel Sanchez Riera broke away to commandeer a functional vehicle to evacuate the team. He was captured and nearly kidnapped by an angry mob before a local elder calmed the group by treating him with respect and freeing him. By the time Sanchez returned with a vehicle and Iraqi police reinforcements in tow, less than 30 minutes later, all seven of his compatriots were dead. They traded fire with the insurgents until running out of ammunition, after which they were killed, and their bodies desecrated. The incident was the single greatest loss of life for Spanish personnel during the war in Iraq and shocked the populace with its brutality. The CNI agents’ last mission and final moments have been recreated in a docudrama called “Los Ocho de Irak” for the streaming service Movistar+. For episode 77 of the Spycraft 101 podcast I answered four espionage history questions submitted by followers, including what happened to the CNI agents in Iraq. The episode is available now. #iraq #spain #cni #baghdad #ambush open.spotify.com/episode/09M…