Seraphim
09-22-2003, 11:22 AM
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Two Iraqi policemen view the remains of a car in a parking lot after a bomb explosion near the United Nations (news - web sites) headquarters in Baghdad, September 22, 2003. A suicide car bomber blew himself up at the UN headquarters on Monday, killing an Iraqi security guard and wounding eight people, the U.S. military said. (Aladin Abdel Naby/*******)
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20030922/capt.1064243121.iraq_bag108.jpg
U.S military personnel investigate parts of a car at the scene where a suicide bomber killed an Iraqi policeman and himself, Monday, Sept. 22, 2003 at a road checkpoint behind the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq (news - web sites). (AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo)
By Fiona O'Brien and Ian Simpson
BAGHDAD (*******) - A suicide car bomber blew himself up near U.N. headquarters in Baghdad on Monday, also killing a security guard and wounding 19 people, a month after a huge truck bomb devastated the building.
The bomber struck on the eve of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, which an Iraqi delegation is due to attend. One of Iraq (news - web sites)'s representatives, Governing Council member Akila al-Hashemi, was critically wounded Saturday in an assassination attempt in Baghdad.
"This is a suicide bomb," Captain Sean Kirley, a U.S. officer at the scene, told reporters. He said the blast happened at about 8 a.m., some 250 yards from the U.N. building where 22 people died last month.
Kirley said the bomber drove into the U.N. car park and was stopped by an Iraqi security guard.
The force of the blast blew the car in half and scattered shreds of metal dozens of meters. A blackened and burned-out hulk was all that remained of the vehicle.
"The driver and the guard engaged in conversation and the bomb was detonated from inside the vehicle," Kirley said. "The damage to the other cars was catastrophic."
Kirley said the bomber had been aiming for the U.N. building but was deterred by the security. "He wanted to get into the U.N. headquarters and he changed his target," he said.
U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. George Krivo told a news conference the attack was "an act of sheer brutality."
In other violence Monday, men in two cars attacked a police station in the southern city of Basra with gunfire and explosives, wounding nine policemen, a senior police officer said. In the northern city of Mosul, assailants fired rocket-propelled grenades at a police station, wounding a number of policemen and bystanders, local officials and witnesses said.
PANIC AMONG STAFF
In Baghdad, Hanan Tahir, a nutritionist with the World Food Program, said the attack near the U.N. building caused panic among staff.
"They were screaming, shouting," she said. "They were crying and they were running."
Aqeel Abd Ali, a guard at the building, said the torso and head of the bomber had been found, and the face was still recognizable. Police were trying to identify him.
At a nearby hospital, Wahid Karim, who had a chunk of metal removed from his head, said: "I didn't even hear it. I lost consciousness. I came round in my car. The driver was bleeding."
U.N. spokeswoman Antonia Paradela said 19 people were wounded, two of them Iraqi U.N. staff.
"This incident today once again underlines that Iraq remains a war zone and a high risk environment, particularly for those working to improve the lives of the Iraqi people," Kevin Kennedy, the senior U.N. official in Baghdad, said in a statement read out by Paradela at the scene.
Paradela said U.N. staff did not know why they were being targeted. "It's not really for lack of security that this happens," she said. "If people are willing to kill themselves there's not a lot we can do."
She said security was being reviewed.
"People are just talking here and seeing if we can operate in these conditions. There are deliberations here and deliberations in New York."
DEBATE OVER U.N. ROLE
Guerrillas killed three U.S. soldiers over the weekend -- two in a mortar attack on Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad and one in a roadside bombing near the town of Ramadi.
Rising violence has put President Bush (news - web sites) under pressure at home. Washington is urging other countries to send troops to Iraq to help establish peace after the war that toppled Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) in April.
Since Bush declared major combat over in May, 79 U.S. soldiers have been killed in hostile incidents in Iraq.
Bush wants a new U.N. resolution to create a multinational force, but France and Germany, who opposed the war, are demanding the United States agree to a faster handover of power to Iraqis. Washington believes that would lead to chaos.
In a New York Times interview published Monday, French President Jacques Chirac proposed that Washington transfer symbolic sovereignty to Iraqis soon and cede real power in six to nine months.
With the cost of the occupation mounting, Iraq's U.S. administrator said Monday he believed the $87 billion that Bush requested from Congress last week would suffice to put Iraq back on its feet.
"It's a lot of money no matter how you slice it, even here in Washington -- $87 billion is not chopped liver," Paul Bremer told ABC's "Good Morning America" show.
"We have done a very careful analysis of what is needed and we are confident that this will put Iraq on the path to peace and stability," he added.
Two Iraqi policemen view the remains of a car in a parking lot after a bomb explosion near the United Nations (news - web sites) headquarters in Baghdad, September 22, 2003. A suicide car bomber blew himself up at the UN headquarters on Monday, killing an Iraqi security guard and wounding eight people, the U.S. military said. (Aladin Abdel Naby/*******)
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20030922/capt.1064243121.iraq_bag108.jpg
U.S military personnel investigate parts of a car at the scene where a suicide bomber killed an Iraqi policeman and himself, Monday, Sept. 22, 2003 at a road checkpoint behind the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq (news - web sites). (AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo)
By Fiona O'Brien and Ian Simpson
BAGHDAD (*******) - A suicide car bomber blew himself up near U.N. headquarters in Baghdad on Monday, also killing a security guard and wounding 19 people, a month after a huge truck bomb devastated the building.
The bomber struck on the eve of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, which an Iraqi delegation is due to attend. One of Iraq (news - web sites)'s representatives, Governing Council member Akila al-Hashemi, was critically wounded Saturday in an assassination attempt in Baghdad.
"This is a suicide bomb," Captain Sean Kirley, a U.S. officer at the scene, told reporters. He said the blast happened at about 8 a.m., some 250 yards from the U.N. building where 22 people died last month.
Kirley said the bomber drove into the U.N. car park and was stopped by an Iraqi security guard.
The force of the blast blew the car in half and scattered shreds of metal dozens of meters. A blackened and burned-out hulk was all that remained of the vehicle.
"The driver and the guard engaged in conversation and the bomb was detonated from inside the vehicle," Kirley said. "The damage to the other cars was catastrophic."
Kirley said the bomber had been aiming for the U.N. building but was deterred by the security. "He wanted to get into the U.N. headquarters and he changed his target," he said.
U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. George Krivo told a news conference the attack was "an act of sheer brutality."
In other violence Monday, men in two cars attacked a police station in the southern city of Basra with gunfire and explosives, wounding nine policemen, a senior police officer said. In the northern city of Mosul, assailants fired rocket-propelled grenades at a police station, wounding a number of policemen and bystanders, local officials and witnesses said.
PANIC AMONG STAFF
In Baghdad, Hanan Tahir, a nutritionist with the World Food Program, said the attack near the U.N. building caused panic among staff.
"They were screaming, shouting," she said. "They were crying and they were running."
Aqeel Abd Ali, a guard at the building, said the torso and head of the bomber had been found, and the face was still recognizable. Police were trying to identify him.
At a nearby hospital, Wahid Karim, who had a chunk of metal removed from his head, said: "I didn't even hear it. I lost consciousness. I came round in my car. The driver was bleeding."
U.N. spokeswoman Antonia Paradela said 19 people were wounded, two of them Iraqi U.N. staff.
"This incident today once again underlines that Iraq remains a war zone and a high risk environment, particularly for those working to improve the lives of the Iraqi people," Kevin Kennedy, the senior U.N. official in Baghdad, said in a statement read out by Paradela at the scene.
Paradela said U.N. staff did not know why they were being targeted. "It's not really for lack of security that this happens," she said. "If people are willing to kill themselves there's not a lot we can do."
She said security was being reviewed.
"People are just talking here and seeing if we can operate in these conditions. There are deliberations here and deliberations in New York."
DEBATE OVER U.N. ROLE
Guerrillas killed three U.S. soldiers over the weekend -- two in a mortar attack on Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad and one in a roadside bombing near the town of Ramadi.
Rising violence has put President Bush (news - web sites) under pressure at home. Washington is urging other countries to send troops to Iraq to help establish peace after the war that toppled Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) in April.
Since Bush declared major combat over in May, 79 U.S. soldiers have been killed in hostile incidents in Iraq.
Bush wants a new U.N. resolution to create a multinational force, but France and Germany, who opposed the war, are demanding the United States agree to a faster handover of power to Iraqis. Washington believes that would lead to chaos.
In a New York Times interview published Monday, French President Jacques Chirac proposed that Washington transfer symbolic sovereignty to Iraqis soon and cede real power in six to nine months.
With the cost of the occupation mounting, Iraq's U.S. administrator said Monday he believed the $87 billion that Bush requested from Congress last week would suffice to put Iraq back on its feet.
"It's a lot of money no matter how you slice it, even here in Washington -- $87 billion is not chopped liver," Paul Bremer told ABC's "Good Morning America" show.
"We have done a very careful analysis of what is needed and we are confident that this will put Iraq on the path to peace and stability," he added.