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foxnews.com
Tuesday, August 19, 2003
A huge explosion that may have been the work of a homicide bomber ripped through U.N. headquarters in Baghdad Tuesday, killing several people and injuring scores of others
A U.S. officer said at least 10 people were killed, Reuters reported, in what the U.N. Security Council (search) called a "terrorist attack."
The Coalition Press Information Center (search) said a large truck bomb - possibly a cement mixer - caused the blast around 4:30 p.m. local time.
"The explosion was caused by a massive truck bomb," Bernard Kerik, the senior U.S. law enforcement official in Baghdad and former New York City police commissioner, told reporters at the scene. "We have evidence to suggest it could have been a suicide attack."
U.N. headquarters in New York said at least one person was killed and 32 injured as of 10 a.m. ET, but that number was expected to increase.
The blast occurred at the Canal Hotel (search), home to the United Nations mission in Iraq. U.N. workers lived and worked in the building when international weapons inspectors were scouring Iraq for evidence of weapons of mass destruction before the war began. The cement mixer apparently drove through a heavy fence and exploded in the lobby.
"My house shook like it did during the bombing at the start of the war," a resident in the area said.
American Black Hawk (search) helicopters were flying toward the scene as Humvees rolled in. Black smoke rose hundreds of feet into the air.
About one-third of the buildings appeared to be destroyed. Iraqis said the blast blew out windows as far as a mile away; several cars were destroyed.
Acting Security Council President Faysaal Kendad (search) condemned the bombing, saying such attacks "cannot break the will of the international community in its efforts to help the people of Iraq."
"These attacks are unacceptable and they [terrorists] must be brought to justice," Kendad added.
U.N. workers told Fox News there were at least 150 workers inside the building. At nearby al-Kindi Hospital, Dr. Munas Amer said at least two people, both Iraqis, were killed and at least 25 other people were brought in for treatment.
Fox News' Dan Springer, reporting from Baghdad, said one entire corner of the two-story hotel has been blown away. It appeared as if the explosion was centered on the building's lobby.
Emergency workers from a nearby National Spinal Cord Injury Center, which also suffered damage, were going through the rubble, looking for survivors and victims.
"What I'm looking at is a scene of immense devastation," Springer reported.
The U.S. military said at least nine people were wounded as of 9:30 ET. The U.N. spokesman in Baghdad, Salim Lone, said dozens were wounded. Fred Eckhard, the U.N. Spokesperson in New York, said he couldn't confirm any deaths.
U.N. Iraq representative Sergio Vieira de Mello (search), one of the highest-ranking officials at the United Nations, was injured.
"Sergio Vieira de Mello's office was destroyed and Sergio himself was hurt," said Eckhard.
A senior UNICEF official also was seriously wounded in the blast, U.N. officials said.
Sources at the State Department told Fox News: "It is too early to know if any Americans are among the casualties. A U.S. consular official is on the scene."
President Bush, who was playing golf in Waco, Texas, was informed of the bombing and cut short his golf game at the 12th hole.
"He decided to return to the ranch to monitor events related to the bombing," said White House press secretary Scott McClellan.
Pentagon officials say they are monitoring the situation with updates from U.S. Central Command (search).
A car was seen ablaze outside the collapsed corner of the building. Many injured were on the scene, which was secured by the U.S. Army and Iraqi police.
One wounded man had a yard-long, inch-thick aluminum rod driven into his face just below his right eye. He was able to speak and identified himself as a security consultant for the International Monetary Fund, saying he had just arrived in the country over the weekend.
Tuesday's explosion seemed to be more powerful than the car bomb that rocked the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad (search)on Aug. 7, which killed at least 11 people and left more than 50 wounded.
The latest attack was the latest in a string of incidents at so-called "soft targets," or lightly guarded civilian and diplomatic facilities.
Oil and water pipelines also came under what is thought to be sabotage attacks this week.
"Our response has to be to show the strength of the United Nations in these circumstances," Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, Mexico's ambassador to the U.N., said from New York. "An act of terrorism… simply indicates that terrorists respect no boundaries."
Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, just Tuesday morning was warning against the flood of potential terrorists coming in to Iraq from neighboring countries to boost opposition forces.
U.S. administrators and the military "do believe that there are professional terrorists, foreign regime leaders … coming in from the border of Iraq," Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, who met with U.S. military leaders in Iraq earlier in the day, told Fox News. "But we cannot cut and run. We must stay here and build the security of this country ... and start helping the people of Iraq recover."
She added: "The escalation of terrorists attacks are of great concern to everyone,"
Other lawmakers agreed the latest bombing is evidence of the threat that still plagues post-regime reconstruction efforts.
"I think what this shows is an increase in the level of org. of the opposition we face," Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., told Fox News. "We have to assume a further escalation of violence against coalition forces and allies."
"There seems to me rather stark evidence in the heart of Baghdad that terrorists are afoot, even Al Qaeda afoot, in the provinces of Iraq," added Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., told Fox News.
The United Nations distributes humanitarian aid and is developing programs aimed at boosting Iraq's emerging free press, justice system and monitoring of human rights.
The United States failed to win the backing of the U.N. Security Council before it invaded Iraq on March 20, and since major fighting ended in April, the United States has been reluctant to let the United Nations play a large role in rebuilding the country.
Fox News military analyst, Maj. Bob Bevelacqua, said the bombing is a clear example of terror groups sending a message: "if you're going to assist the United States, we're going to come after you."
Amb. Dennis Ross, Fox News foreign affairs analyst, argued the message was directed at the Iraqi people.
"What they're [terrorists] trying to convey right now is that nothing is going to go back to normal - that those who are determined to prevent the United States from succeeding will continue, will persevere … every time something is done to build infrastructure, it will be destroyed."
The Canal Hotel operates more as an office building than a hotel. The cafeteria is a popular place for humanitarian workers and journalists to meet.
The three-floor building houses the offices of most U.N. agencies with the exception of UNICEF and the Food and Agriculture Organization.
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