"The ICRC is a universally respected humanitarian organization. Its neutrality and impartiality are the mainstays of its operations," he said.
The ICRC is to begin pulling foreign staff out of Baghdad in the wake of the bombing but will continue to refuse military protection, said its head of delegation in Baghdad.
"We will begin tomorrow to fly out expatriate staff and then we'll see how we can continue our work with our Iraqi staff," Pierre Gassmann said in an interview on the Web site of Germany's ARD public television.
He said the ICRC has about 35 foreign staff in Iraq and 800 Iraqi workers.
The ICRC -- which has stayed in the country for more than two decades even at the height of recent wars -- started cutting back on foreign staff in the Iraqi capital after a Sri Lankan aid worker was shot dead in July.
Secretary of State Colin Powell urged the Red Cross and other nongovernment organizations -- as well as foreign contractors and the UN -- to stay in Iraq.
"They are needed. Their work is needed. And if they are driven out, then the terrorists win," Powell said Monday in Washington.
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