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Bomber targets UN in Iraq

Iraqi police officers carry an unidentified body past a destroyed car at the scene where a suicide car bomber killed an Iraqi policeman and himself yesterday at a road checkpoint behind the UN headquarters in Baghdad. PHOTO: AP

A suicide car bomber killed an Iraqi policeman and himself at a road checkpoint behind the UN headquarters in Baghdad yesterday as the UN debates expanding its role in Iraq. Nineteen people, including two Iraqi UN workers, were injured, a UN official said.

The detached arm of a blast victim lay more than 100m from the explosion. The hood of the car carrying the bomb was blown 200m away.

The blast occurred at the entrance to a parking lot next to the UN compound at the Canal Hotel, a UN employee said on condition of anonymity. The blast occurred about 200m from hotel, scene of a devastating car bombing last month that killed 23 people, including the UN's top envoy in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

A UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the bomber wore an explosives belt in addition to the 25kg bomb in the car.

"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 top UN official in Baghdad, said in a statement.

Master Sergeant Hassan al-Saadi, among the first on the scene after the explosion, said he was told by injured policemen that a gray 1995 Opel with Baghdad license plates approached the entrance to the parking lot.

"A guard went to search the car, opened the trunk and the car exploded, killing him and the driver. When I arrived, there was fire and smoke, even the guard's body was ablaze," he said.

Captain Sean Kirley, of the US 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, said the Iraqi police had a warning of the attack shortly before it happened. He would not elaborate.

"It appeared to have been a suicide bombing. The bomber drove up and was engaged by an Iraqi security individual just before the checkpoint" at the lot entrance, Kirley said at the scene.

Authorities identified the slain policeman as 23-year-old Salam Mohammed.

Antonia Paradela, World Food Program spokeswoman, said 19 people were injured and six people were unaccounted for.

Kirley said he didn't know whether any US troops were near the scene at the time, but none was wounded. He said there was no damage to UN buildings.

UN staff have continued to work in undamaged offices at the hotel complex since the Aug. 19 bombing.

The blast, which could be heard over much of the Iraqi capital, took place one day before US President George W. Bush is to address the UN General Assembly. He is expected to offer an expanded role in rebuilding Iraq, a condition set by many nations for contributing peacekeepers and money to the reconstruction effort.

On Sunday, Bush said he's not sure the US will have to yield a significantly larger role to the UN to make way for a new resolution on Iraq. He continued to insist on an orderly transfer of authority to the Iraqis rather than the quick action demanded by France.

French President Jacques Chirac said in an interview published yesterday that he did not intend to veto US proposals in the Security Council but would only vote in favor if they include a prompt transfer of sovereignty to Iraqis.

"We don't have the intention to oppose. If we oppose it, that would mean voting no, that is to say, to use the veto. I am not in that mindset at all," Chirac told the New York Times in the interview.

But he said France would only support the resolution if it included a deadline and timetable for a transfer of sovereignty in Iraq as well as a "key role" for the UN in the oil-rich country.

If these provisions were not included, France would abstain, Chirac said. A transfer of sovereignty should occur "right now," followed by a "transfer of responsibility" within six to nine months, he insisted.

"We can either abstain or vote yes. To vote yes, we need a clear long-range political vision and a key role for the UN.

In an exclusive interview with Fox News' Brit Hume, Bush said he will declare in his speech today at the UN General Assembly that he "made the right decision and the others that joined us made the right decision" to invade Iraq.

But the president said he will ask other nations to do more to help stabilize Iraq.
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