Two killed in Baghdad suicide attack
A suicide car bombing near the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad has left two people dead and up to 20 injured.
The blast occurred at around 0800 local time (0400 GMT), at a checkpoint in a car park some 250 metres (800 feet) from the Canal Hotel, which the UN is using as its base in the Iraqi capital.
The explosion killed the bomber and an Iraqi security guard and destroyed at least six other vehicles.
US military spokesman Captain Sean Kirley said that the bomber is believed to have been driven into the car park after changing his target due to the high level of security around the UN headquarters. He was stopped in the car park by the Iraqi guard, where he detonated the explosives.
Last month the UN building was targeted in a similar attack, killing 22 people, including the UN’s highest representative in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.
The rising death toll in Iraq is putting more pressure on President George W Bush to secure a new UN resolution to create a multinational force for the country.
However, opponents of the war, including France and Germany, are insisting that the US hand over control of Iraq to the United Nations.
Two US soldiers were killed in a mortar bombing at the Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad over the weekend, and a third died in a separate roadside bomb blast.
Since President Bush declared major combat over on May 1st, 79 US soldiers and 11 British troops have been killed in hostile attacks.
A member of the Iraqi Governing Council was also wounded in an assassination attempt over the weekend.
