A Polish diplomat was beaten Wednesday in Moscow, the second attack in four days, prompting an outcry from Warsaw for punishment against the attackers and heightened security to protect its diplomats.

"Four unidentified people attacked a second secretary of the embassy and beat him" at a square, about 10 minutes' walk from the embassy in central Moscow in the afternoon, a Russian law enforcement official told the Itar-Tass news agency. The diplomat, identified as Marek Reszuta, was rushed to hospital after he asked police on duty nearby for help. "He suffered minor injuries, but medics believe he may have suffered a concussion," the source said.

The Polish Embassy in Russia sent a note to the Russian Foreign Ministry, expressing "grave concern" with the continuing threat to the security of Polish nationals in Moscow and urging Russia to take appropriate steps to guarantee their security, an embassy press release said.

The embassy also demanded prompt action from Russia to arrest the attackers and prosecute them.

Russia's Foreign Ministry expressed "deep regret" over the assault on the Polish diplomat, saying the incident is being investigated by Russian law enforcement agencies." All necessary measures are being taken to find those guilty and additional steps are being taken to ensure the security of the Polish Embassy," the ministry said in a statement. Moscow hopes the incident would not be used to escalate tension in traditionally friendly Russian-Polish relations, the statement said.

The attack came three days after another Polish embassy employee was beaten up near the embassy compound.

The attacks happened days after unidentified attackers beat up three sons of Russian diplomats in Warsaw and grabbed their mobile phones. Russia demanded an apology, citing anti-Russian sentiment in Poland. The Polish Foreign Ministry expressed regret over the assault and stopped short of an apology, saying the attack was not politically motivated.

In a separate development, police are searching for an anonymous telephone caller who threatened to blow up the Polish embassy Tuesday, the Interfax news agency reported. The Polish embassy informed police about the bomb threat Tuesday afternoon, when an anonymous caller rang in and said: "You've two minutes left before a blast."

The threat turned out to be a hoax. Neither explosives nor bombs were found in the embassy building after the compound was examined by a bomb expert with a sniffer dog.

(Xinhua News Agency August 11, 2005)