20 killed as suicide bomber hits UN

THE United Nation’s top envoy in Iraq was one of 20 people killed yesterday after a suicide bomber in a truck set off a massive explosion that tore through the organisation’s headquarters in Baghdad.

Sergio Vieira de Mello died and over 100 were injured in the attack.

One UN official said a yellow cement truck crashed into the building and blew up, sending a huge cloud of smoke into the sky over the Iraqi capital. A top US official said there was evidence to suggest a suicide bomber had carried out the attack, which blew out windows as far as a mile away.