Canal Hotel bombing

Infobox terrorist attack
title=Canal Hotel Bombing


location=Baghdad, Iraq
target=United Nations headquarters
date=August 19, 2003
time-begin=16:45
time-end=
timezone=GMT +3
type=truck bomb
fatalities=22 plus a suicide bomber
injuries=100+
perps=Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad

The Canal Hotel Bombing in Baghdad, Iraq, in the afternoon of August 19, 2003, killed at least 22 people, including Sérgio Vieira de Mello, and wounded over 100. The blast targeted the United Nations (UN), which had used the hotel as its headquarters in Iraq since 1991. The attack was followed by a second bombing a month later which resulted in a withdrawal of the 600 UN staff members in Iraq. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6941560.stm BBC News] Mixed feelings over UN Iraq role] These events were to have a profound and lasting impact on the UN's security practices globally. [ [http://www.un.org/apps/news/infocusnews.asp?NewsID=597&sID=1 UN News Centre] Press Briefing by Manoel de Almeida e Silva, Spokesman for the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Afghanistan] [ [http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=11679&Cr=19&Cr1=August UN News Centre] UN wrestling with security questions one year after Baghdad bombing]

The bombing

The explosion occurred while Martin Barber, director of the UN's Mine Action Service (UNMAS) was holding a press conference. The explosion damaged a spinal cord treatment center at the hospital nearby and the resulting shockwave was felt a mile away.

The blast was caused by a suicide bomber driving a truck bomb. The vehicle has been identified as a large 2002 flatbed Kamaz (manufactured in Eastern Europe; part of the former Iraqi establishment's fleet). Investigators in Iraq suspected the bomb was made from old munitions, including a single 500-pound bomb, possibly from Iraq's pre-war arsenal. Investigators said that such items would not require any "great degree of sophistication" to assemble.

There is speculation that Sérgio Vieira de Mello, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, may have been specifically targeted in the blast due to the proximity of the explosion to his office. The UN building may have been chosen due to its limited security. Another motive to the bombing could be the UN imposed sanctions on IraqFact|date=March 2007. The OCHA Humanitarian Information Centre (HIC) for Iraq (UNOHCI) was located directly beneath Vieira de Mello’s office and suffered a direct hit. Of the eight staff and one visitor in the office at the time, one managed to escape. [http://www.reliefweb.int/ocha_ol/pub/ochanews/ON%20Special%20Issue-Iraq.PDF OCHA bulletin] tribute.]

econd bomb

The bombing was followed on September 22, 2003, by another car bomb outside the Canal Hotel. The blast killed the bomber and an Iraqi policeman and wounded 19 others, including UN workers. The second attack led to the withdrawal of some 600 UN international staff from Baghdad, along with employees of other aid agencies. In August 2004, de Mello's replacement, Ashraf Qazi, arrived in Baghdad along with a small number of staff. [http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,,2-10-1460_1572740,00.html News 24] UN team in Iraq for rebuilding]

List of victims

Marilyn Manuel, Philippines, a member of Vieira de Mello's staff originally listed as dead, stunned her family when she called home, not knowing they had been told she was dead. [http://www.philippinenews.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=db28d48fd958f592351c8219ef21ce44 Philipinenews.com] Marilyn Manuel comes home] The cause of this was that Ms. Manuel had been evacuated to an Iraqi hospital which did not notify the UN of her presence. Consequently, she was listed as missing and presumed dead in the collapsed section of the building. [http://www.reliefweb.int/library/documents/2003/un-irq-20oct.pdf The Independent Panel on the Safety and Security of UN Personnel in Iraq] ]

uspects

As of 2006, the prime suspects in this bombing are followers of the late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who had purportedly claimed responsibility for this attack. In January 2005, a top bombmaker for Zarqawi's group, Abu Omar al-Kurdi, was captured by the coalition and claimed his associates made the bomb used in this attack. On December 16, 2005, Iraqi authorities issued an arrest warrant for Mullah Halgurd al-Khabir, a commander of Ansar al-Sunna, in connection with the attack. [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2005/12/mil-051216-mnfi01.htm Global Security.org] Arrest warrant] In an audio tape quoted here, Zarqawi motivated the bombing of the UN building. The Italian newspaper "Corriere della Sera" identified the suicide bomber as Algerian national Fahdal Nassim. [http://jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?issue_id=3467 Global Terrorism Analysis] ] Other suspects included Baathists, militant Sunni and Shiite groups, organized crime, and tribal elements. Blame was initially thought to lie with Ansar al-Islam, which was thought at the time to be Zarqawi's group. An otherwise unknown group called the "Armed Vanguards of the Second Mohammed Army" claimed they were responsible for the attack. [http://www.cfr.org/publication.html?id=7685 Council on Foreign Relations] The UN Attack]

Responses

The suicide bombing of the United Nations in Baghdad drew overwhelming condemnation. Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General, commented that the bombing would not stop the organization's efforts to rebuild Iraq, and said: "Nothing can excuse this act of unprovoked and murderous violence against men and women who went to Iraq for one purpose only: to help the Iraqi people recover their independence and sovereignty, and to rebuild their country as fast as possible, under leaders of their own choosing."

However, since this event the UN country team's expatriates and leaders relocated in Amman (Jordan) and continued to work remotely. Only some Iraqis have continued under drastic security measures all around the country (except in Kurdistan where they are more numerous and can move more freely). Few expatriates are, 5 years later, authorized to go inside Iraq (including Kurdistan) and only inside huge security compounds such as the so-called "Green Zone" in Baghdad. Humanitarian support is now entirely conducted inside the country by NGOs, under UN remote supervision.

ee also

*Attacks on humanitarian workers

References

External links

* [http://www.un.org/events/memorial/19august/ United Nations portal] for the anniversary
**PDFlink| [http://www.unece.org/highlights/unece_weekly/weekly_2004/UNECE_weekly_2004-82.pdf UNECE.org] |176 KiB Kofi Annan's statement on the one-year anniversary
** [http://www.who.int/mediacentre/statements/2003/statment_nabarro/en/index.html who.int] Senior WHO official, Dr David Nabarro, describes his experience inside the Canal Hotel
**PDFlink| [http://www.un.org/News/dh/iraq/safety-security-un-personnel-iraq.pdf UN report] |711 KiB on the bombing, Oct. 22, 2003
*PDFlink| [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/2004/un-siap-report_29mar2004.pdf globalsecurity.org] |90.5 KiB March 3, 2004 Report of the Security in Iraq Accountability Panel (SIAP)
* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/un-hq-baghdad-bombing.htm GlobalSecurity.org] The Canal Hotel UN Headquarters Compound