- Title: IRAQ: ANOTHER BODY PULLED FROM WRECKAGE OF U.N. HEADQUARTERS IN BAGHDAD, LATEST.
- Date: 21st August 2003
- Summary: (EU) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (AUGUST 20, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. LV: EXTERIOR DAMAGED UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS 0.08 2. GV: U.S. FORCES CARRYING STRETCHER FROM THE RUBBLE 0.49 3. GV: MECHANICAL DIGGER AT WORK, RUBBLE (4 SHOTS) 1.34 (W5) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (AUGUST 20, 2003) (REUTERS) 4. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) FBI AGENT THOMAS FUENTES, SAYING: "We believe it's possibly a suicide bombing because in the wreckage we have human remains also strewn about the scene, we have recovered them and we are in the process of analysing those parts. "We have also many of the parts of the engine, we have engine number, the vehicle and the model number, that type of thing and we are working now on examining the records here to determine where there is any registration information as to who the vehicle belongs to. "We are not aware of any specific threats that were made against the United Nations and to my knowledge no one has taken credit yet for this bombing. 2.16 5. GV: BULLDOZER DIGGING THROUGH RUBBLE OF U.N. HEADQUARTERS (3 SHOTS) 2.39 (W6) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (AUGUST 20, 2003) (REUTERS) 6. GV: AHMAD CHALABI, MEMBER OF THE INTERIM GOVERNING COUNCIL, SITTING WITH THE TWO OFFICIALS DR. MAHDI AL-HAFIDH A MEMBER OF THE DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT IN IRAQ AND HAMEED MAJEED MOUSA THE SECRETARY OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY IN IRAQ, AT CONVENTION CENTRE NEWS CONFERENCE 2.45 7. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) AHMAD CHALABI SAYING: "For example on the 14th of August we had a report that a meeting took place by some of the former regime and extremists announcing that a large scale act will take place in Baghdad not against the CPA or the American forces but against a soft target either Iraqi political parties or another target including the U.N. that was reported in that meeting and it specifically said that the attack will take place using a truck to be detonated through a suicide mechanism or through an electronic detonation." 3.32 8. MV/GV: MEDIA; CHALABI AND THE SENIOR OFFICIALS LEAVING (2 SHOTS) 3.39 (W7) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (AUGUST 20, 2003) (REUTERS) 9. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PASSER-BY, HAITHAM DAWOOD SAYING: "It's a terrorist action that we despise and will not forgive. We do not know who exactly did it but anyway it passes an unreal monstrous image of the Iraqi people.That is not how Iraqi people are. The Iraqi people want their freedom that they have been seeking for the past 35 years or more. After the Iraqi people got their freedom there are some people who want to prove that they do not deserve this freedom. There are many sides acting against the Iraqis and we accuse the head of the snake, Saddam Hussein." 4.35 (W6) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (AUGUST 20, 2003) (REUTERS) 10. GV: U.N. OFFICIALS AT ENTRANCE TO PALESTINE HOTEL 4.41 11. CU/MV/GV: U.N. FEMALE STAFFER WITH BANDAGED HEAD; DISTRESSED U.N. PERSONNEL SEATED; CLOSE-UP BANDAGED FINGERS OF HAND; U.N. PERSONNEL IN LOBBY (4 SHOTS) 5.05 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 5th September 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA1Y8LX4I8VUFAT0G927LI96YEM
- Story Text: As search teams retrieved a body from the
wreckage of the U.N. headquarters, the FBI said the attack
could be the work of a suicide bomber and a senior Iraqi
official said intelligence reports had warned of an attack
on a "soft" target.
U.S. forces on Wednesday (August 20) carried a body
on a stretcher from the rubble of the devastated United
Nations Headquarters in Baghdad. Witnesses said the body
was the first to have been pulled from the rubble since
0600 local time (0200gmt) on Wednesday.
Many bodies are still believed to be buried under the
rubble of the building but the possibility of finding any
more survivors appeared less and less likely.
The headquarters were devastated by a truck bomb that
killed at least 20 people on Tuesday (August 19).
The top U.N. envoy to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, was
among those killed in the suspected suicide bombing, the
most serious attack on a U.N. civilian complex in the world
body's 58-year history.
U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigators
and U.S. forensic teams scoured the rubble for clues about
those behind the suspected suicide attack.
No group has claimed responsibility.
The leading FBI agent in Baghdad said on Wednesday
human remains had been found in the truck used to bomb the
United Nations headquarters, suggesting it was a suicide
attack.
"We believe it's possibly a suicide bombing because in
the wreckage we have human remains also strewn about the
scene, we have recovered them and we are in the process of
analysing those parts," Special Agent Thomas Fuentes told
Reuters.
Fuentes said the bomb had consisted of up to 1,500 lb
(680 kg) of explosive, which had detonated other munitions
also loaded on the truck, including Soviet-era artillery
and mortar shells.
Senior Iraqi official Ahmad Chalabi, a member of the
Iraqi interim council, told a news conference that
intelligence reports had predicted an attack on a "soft"
target.
"For example on the 14th of August we had a report that
a meeting took place by some of the former regime and
extremists announcing that a large scale act will take
place in Baghdad not against the CPA or the American forces
but against a soft target either Iraqi political parties or
another target including the U.N. that was reported in that
meeting and it
specifically said that the attack will take place using a
truck to be detonated through a suicide mechanism or
through an electronic detonation."
Iraqis expressed their anger at the attack, some of
them attributing it directly to the work of former
president, Saddam Hussein.
"It's a terrorist action that we despise and will not
forgive. We do not know who exactly did it but anyway it
passes an unreal monstrous image of the Iraqi people.That
is not how Iraqi people are. The Iraqi people want their
freedom that they have been seeking for the past 35 years
or more. After the Iraqi people got their freedom there are
some people who want to prove that they do not deserve this
freedom. There are many sides acting against the Iraqis and
we accuse the head of the snake, Saddam Hussein," said
Baghdad resident, Haitham Dawood.
Meanwhile, some of the U.N. staff working in Baghdad
shifted to Palestine Hotel in central Baghdad to continue
their work, bearing evidence of the attack in their
injuries.
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