Six unaccounted for after suicide blast

Six people are still unaccounted for after a suicide car bomber killed himself and a policeman at a checkpoint outside the UN headquarters in Baghdad today.

Nineteen people, including two Iraqi UN workers, were injured.

The arm of a blast victim lay more than 100 yards from the explosion. The bonnet of the car carrying the bomb was blown 200 yards away.

The bomb went off at the entrance to a car park next to the UN compound at the Canal Hotel.

It was about 150 yards from the scene of a devastating car bombing last month that killed 23 people, including the UN’s top envoy in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

A UN official said the bomber wore an explosives belt in addition to the 50 pound bomb in the car.

“This incident today once again underlines that Iraq remains a war zone and a high risk environment, particularly for those working to improve the lives of the Iraqi people,” said Kevin Kennedy, the top UN official in Baghdad.

Iraqi police sergeant Hassan al-Saadi, among the first on the scene after the explosion, said a grey Opel with Baghdad licence plates approached the entrance to the car park.

“A guard went to search the car, opened the boot and the car exploded, killing him and the driver. When I arrived, there was fire and smoke, even the guard’s body was ablaze,” he said.

Captain Sean Kirley, of the US 2nd Cavalry, said Iraqi police had a warning of the attack shortly before it happened. He would not elaborate.

“It appeared to have been a suicide bombing. The bomber drove up and was engaged by an Iraqi security individual just before the checkpoint” at the car park entrance, Kirley said.

Authorities identified the dead policeman as 23-year-old Salam Mohammed.

A UN spokesman said 19 people were injured and six people were unaccounted for.

The blast, which could be heard over much of the Iraqi capital, took place one day before President George Bush addresses the UN General Assembly in New York.

He is expected to offer an expanded role in rebuilding Iraq, a condition set by many nations for contributing peacekeepers and money to the reconstruction effort.

The United Nations curtailed its efforts in Iraq after the August 19 bombing.

Today’s attack came after the weekend assassination attempt on Aquila al-Hashimi, one of three women on the Iraqi Governing Council and a leading candidate to become Iraq’s UN ambassador.

She was reported to be improving today after she was shot while in a car near her Baghdad home.

The Governing Council president, Ahmad Chalabi, blamed remnants of the regime of Saddam Hussein, whose government was toppled by US-led forces in April.