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Chief UN Envoy to Baghdad Dead After Blast
Quote:
At Least 20 Die in U.N. HQ Blast in Iraq
By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer
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BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide attacker set off a truck bomb Tuesday outside the hotel housing the U.N. headquarters, U.S. officials said. At least 20 U.N. workers and Iraqis were killed, including the chief U.N. official in Iraq (news - web sites), and 100 were wounded.
Sergio Vieira de Mello, a 55-year-old veteran Brazilian (news - web sites) diplomat who was only days away from the end of his four-month mission, was in his office when the explosion ripped through the building about 4:30 p.m. and was trapped in the rubble.
U.N. officials said 15 U.N. workers were killed and 100 wounded. A survey of Baghdad hospitals by The Associated Press found five other people killed.
Vieira de Mello's death was announced by U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard, and all the national flags that ring the U.N. headquarters' entrance in New York were removed from their poles. The blue and white U.N. flag was lowered to half staff.
U.N. staffers gathered in corridors, on the promenade facing the East River and around television sets as they mourned the loss of the man Eckhard called "a rising star."
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Linky
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this is fucken sad. these people were there for purely humanitarian reasons and they are now targets? what the fuck do these bastards want?
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"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." - Darrel K Royal
Last edited by The_Dude; 08-19-2003 at 10:28 AM..
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