BAGHDAD (voa) – The top U.N. representative in Iraq and at least 14 other people have been killed in a bomb attack on U.N. headquarters in Baghdad.
The blast occurred at mid-afternoon in Baghdad and caused a large part of the U.N. compound to collapse. Hundreds of United Nations employees were inside at the time, but the numbers are still not clear and many were buried in the debris.
The U.S. military confirmed that the blast was caused by a car bomb. The top U.N. official in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, was in his office at the time of the blast and was killed. United Nations workers said it appeared that his office had been the target of the bomb.
One Iraqi man who spoke on condition of anonymity works as a U.N. security officer and was near the scene. “I don’t have any details, not yet. I was calling my colleagues there. Most of them are all right, but some of them are wounded,” he said.
U.S. Army helicopters patrolled the skies around the ruins of the United Nations compound and soldiers sealed off the area fearing that there could be a second bomb.
U.S. soldiers were also on the scene helping to remove the dead and injured from the building. A column of black smoke could be seen coming from the blast area.
Many Iraqis who work for the United Nations were outside the security cordon using their radios to try and get news about their colleagues.
Windows were blown out of cars and apartments a kilometer or more away from the blast. Many Iraqis were angry that attacks of this nature are still going on in their country.
Ahmed is a merchant in Baghdad and said that this is like a game that keeps going on here. He said the blast blew out the windows of his apartment and sent a wind through the entire area that made him lose his breath.
The United Nations headquarters, formerly the Canal Hotel, has been used by the U.N. for many years. United Nations weapons inspectors were based in the compound during their mandate in the 1990s.
Secretary-General’s statement on the death of Sergio Vieira de Mello
(New York, 19 August 2003) – The loss of Sergio Vieira de Mello is a bitter blow for the United Nations, and for me personally.
The death of any colleague is hard to bear, but I can think of no one we could less afford to spare, or who would be more acutely missed throughout the UN system, than Sergio. Throughout his career he has been an outstanding servant of humanity, dedicated to relieving the suffering of his fellow men and women, helping them to resolve their conflicts and rebuild their war-torn societies. In his work with the peoples of every continent – as an official of the High Commissioner for Refugees, as Emergency Relief Coordinator, as my Special Representative in Kosovo and East Timor, and (all too briefly) as High Commissioner for Human Rights – in all those positions he impressed everyone with his charm, his energy, and his ability to get things done – not by force but by diplomacy and persuasion.
In Iraq, where he spent the last months of his life, he was working day and night to help the Iraqi people regain control of their own destiny and build a future of peace, justice and full independence. It is tragic that he has now given his life in that cause, along with others who, like him, were devoted and much-loved servants of the United Nations. Those who killed him have committed a crime, not only against the United Nations but against Iraq itself.
I share the grief of Sergio’s family. We shall all miss him sorely, as a colleague and as a friend. Let us also strive to be worthy of him, and to complete the work that he began, so that his death will not have been in vain.
