17 Killed, Including U.N. Envoy, In Baghdad Attack

Earlier a senior U.N. official had reported that "de Mello is dead. He’s in the morgue," reported Agence France-Presse.

The blast, believed to have been ignited in a cement truck, turned an entire side of the headquarters in the Canal Hotel into smoldering chunks of concrete and triggered scenes of chaos.

"I saw in front of me 13 dead," U.N. spokesperson Veronique Taveau told AFP as she surveyed the late-afternoon attack.

Rescue workers look through the rubble of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad

Three more people were reported dead and 53 wounded at five hospitals around Baghdad, medical sources said.

A police officer at the scene, who refused to give his name, said "I carried out several bodies" and a steady traffic of blood-stained bodies on stretchers was seen outside the U.N. building where some 300 people worked.

The veteran Brazilian diplomat, 55, had been trapped in the remains of what used to be his office.

De Mello was in his office at the time of the blast and was attended to by rescue workers.

A U.N. spokesman in Baghdad, Salim Lone, told the BBC the blast took place "right below" de Mello’s window.

"I guess it was targeted for that.

"His office and the offices around him no longer exist – it is all rubble," Lone said.

Also wounded was Benon Sevan, director of the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq, who was holding a press conference when the bomb went, officials said.

Eckhard said the attack "is not only a personal tragedy but also a setback for the U.N."

He said U.N. officials were in contact with Annan, who is currently vacationing in Finland.

Eckhard said some 300 people work in the building but it was not clear how many of them were in the office at the time of the attack.

"From what we see on TV," he aid, "the damage is substantial. Human suffering is great."

Car Bomb

U.S. soldiers and medical staff evacuate injured people outside the U.N. headquarters

U.N. officials said the blast that rocked the world body office in Baghdad was caused by a car bomb.

"I saw a yellow cement truck crash into the wall of the Canal Hotel and explode," said Fayez Sarhan, a U.N. employee.

Bernard Kerik, a U.S.-hired adviser to the Iraqi interior ministry, said signs pointed to "a suicide attack."

"It might have been a suicide bomber. There is evidence that suggests that," Kerik said at the site as firemen sprayed out fires inside the compound, where a side of the U.N. building was reduced to a pile of concrete blocks.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Scenes of panic erupted outside the building after the explosion.

Television footage showed soldiers combing the rubble to look for survivors trapped in the wreckage while three American helicopters flew overhead. Several vehicles at the scene were destroyed.

Plumes of thick black smoke billowed from the site as U.S. troops attempted to keep the crowd of Baghdadis and journalists from getting close.

Television footage of Sevan’s news conference seconds after the explosion showed scenes of chaos, with members of the press and other people covered with dust, debris and blood attempting to evacuate the building.
One foreigner with blood dripping from his forehead could be seen trying to organize the evacuation effort, as coughing and crying survivors were attempting to run for safety.