Replies to post #24447 on Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[Rick Faurot]

Baghdad Bomb Shatters U.N. Headquarters in Iraq

Tue August 19, 2003 10:19 AM ET

By Michael Georgy and Luke Baker

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A massive truck bomb ripped through the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, killing at least three people and wounding scores, witnesses said. It may have been a suicide attack, a top U.S. official said.

Among those badly hurt was Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special representative to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

A U.N. official said the diplomat was trapped in his wrecked office, which appeared to be the target of the unidentified bombers.

Clouds of black smoke floated skyward, ruffling the world organization's sky blue flag in the late afternoon air. U.N. workers said many colleagues were still missing in the rubble.

There was no claim of responsibility, just as there was none two weeks ago when a truck bomb shattered the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad, killing 17 people. The U.S. occupation forces say Muslim militants or diehard supporters of Saddam Hussein might have set that bomb to destabilize American rule in Iraq.

"The explosion was caused by a massive truck bomb," Bernard Kerik, the senior U.S. police official in Baghdad, said. "We have evidence to suggest it could have been a suicide attack."
The U.N. uses the Canal Hotel in east central Baghdad as the headquarters for a wide number of its agencies, employing hundreds of staff. It was the base for weapons inspectors during the long hunt for Saddam's alleged weapons of mass destruction.

Uday Ahad, an Iraqi security guard at the building, said: "Many Iraqis and foreigners were wounded." He said he had carried three dead from the rubble.

"Suddenly there was an explosion and everything fell down. There are lots of people inside because no one had gone home yet," said Fouad Victor, a U.N. employee who was inside when the blast struck at about 4:30 p.m.

CHIEF TRAPPED, MANY MISSING

Television pictures from inside the building showed a person talking at a news conference when it went dark at the sound of a huge explosion. Pictures returned showing a murky scene of dust and frightened people with bloodied faces seeking to flee.

U.S. helicopters circled overhead as bleeding workers were led away by soldiers. One British man, covered in blood, walked out of the compound with a briefcase, head swathed in bandages.
United Nations spokeswoman Veronique Taveau said a headcount was being taken to determine the number of people still missing.

"Many, many people have been wounded," she told Reuters.

U.N. official Selim Lone told the BBC by telephone from the scene that rescue workers were struggling to free Vieira de Mello, a 55-year-old Brazilian career diplomat, from the ruins.
"All this happened right below the window of Sergio Vieira de Mello. I guess it was targeted for that," Lone said.

The United Nations is playing a limited role in postwar Iraq, with the U.S.-led invasion forces assuming military and civilian control of the country. The U.N.'s main objectives have been the provision of humanitarian aid.

After sharp splits with allies on the U.N. Security Council over the war, Washington has shown little haste in seeking a bigger part for the United Nations in Iraq, although it would like more countries to share the burden of running the country.