Two killed and eleven wounded in car bomb blast

At least two people were killed and eleven others injured when a car bomb exploded morning while the vehicle was being examined at a checkpoint as it tried to enter the UN compound in Baghdad.

At least two people were killed and eleven othesr injured when a car bomb exploded morning while the vehicle was being examined at a checkpoint as it tried to enter the UN compound in Baghdad.

The blast occurred about 100 yards from the UN compound at the Canal 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.

“The bomber drove up and was engaged by an Iraqi security individual just before the checkpoint,” a US 2nd Armoured Cavalry Regiment spokesman, Captain Sean Kirley, told reporters at the scene. That policeman was killed, although it was not clear whether he was shot or died in the explosion, he said.

Capt Kirley said eight other Iraqi policemen were wounded. He said he didn’t know whether any US troops were near the scene at the time, but none was wounded.

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

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

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has made clear he wants assurances of security for UN personnel in Baghdad along with any expanded role.

The UN curtailed its efforts in Iraq after the August 19 bombing. At the time of the attack, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said there were about 300 international staff in Baghdad and more than 300 elsewhere in Iraq. These numbers are thought to have now been dramatically reduced.

After the bombing, about 20 US military vehicles could be seen swarming around the compound, and the area in north-eastern Baghdad was sealed off by Iraqi police.

The bomb exploded two days after an assassination attempt against Aquila al-Hashimi, one of three women on the Iraqi Governing Council and a leading candidate to become Iraq’s UN ambassador if the interim government wins approval to take the country’s UN seat.

She was reported in serious but stable condition following the Saturday attack, which occurred as she was riding in a car near her home in western Baghdad. The Governing Council president, Ahmad Chalabi, blamed remnants of the regime of Saddam Hussein, whose government was toppled by US-led forces in April.

An Iraqi police spokesman said later that 11 people, mostly policemen, were wounded. He did not know whether any U.S. troops were near the scene at the time, but none was wounded.

He said there was no damage to UN buildings.