Car Bomb in Iraq

3 minutes ago Add Top Stories - AP to My Yahoo!


By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A car bomb exploded in front of the hotel housing the U.N. headquarters on Tuesday, collapsing the front of the building, U.S. military said. The top U.N. official in Iraq (news - web sites), Sergio Vieira de Mello, was among the wounded.


A U.N. driver said he saw Iraqis and foreigners injured in the wreckage of the Canal Hotel, where the U.N. is based. An Associated Press reporter said he could see nine people being carried out of the hotel on stretchers.


Sgt. Amy Abbott said the 4:30 p.m. blast was caused by a car bomb. She said military ambulances and security forces were at the scene. She said she did not yet have casualty figures and did not know if anyone had been killed.


"Sergio Vieira de Mello's office was destroyed and Sergio himself was hurt," U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said in New York.


Eckhard said he didn't know how seriously de Mello was hurt.


The U.N. spokesman in Baghdad, Salim Lone, said dozens were wounded. Eckhard said he couldn't confirm any deaths.


A senior UNICEF (news - web sites) official also was seriously wounded in the blast, U.N. officials said.


One wounded man had a yard-long, inch-thick aluminum rod driven into his face just below his right eye. He was able to speak and identified himself as a security consultant for the International Monetary Fund (news - web sites), saying he had just arrived in the country over the weekend.


Nazar Hababa, the U.N. driver, was covered in blood as he recounted seeing victims in the rubble.


"At 4:30 p.m. we heard a big explosion. It was caused by a rocket, said Adnan Al-Jabouri, a second U.N. driver at the hotel.