Huge blast at UN base

A massive suicide bomb blast destroyed the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad this afternoon killing at least 16 people.

UN troubleshooter Sergio Vieira de Mello, 54, was among the dead, having been trapped in the rubble of the three-storey building.

There were reports that a huge cement mixer packed with explosives and mounted on a lorry had been driven into the building by a suicide bomber.

Members of al Qaeda or remnants of Saddam Hussein's Fedayeen militia are thought to be responsible.

Witnesses spoke of at least eight bodies amid the wreckage and others trapped. US soldiers searched through the rubble of the Canal Hotel, where the UN is based. Many of those hurt, suffering from serious head and upper body injuries, were tonight being ferried to hospitals in the Iraqi capital.

Some of the injured were treated by US medical personnel on a grassy verge as two Black Hawk helicopters hovered overhead. Maha al-Kajib, who works for Unicef, said: "I was on the third floor of the building when this explosion happened.

"The windows blew in and everything jumped in the air. I was thrown 10 feet across the room. Many people were cut and wounded by the flying glass. I don't know what caused the explosion but it was terrifying."

Salim Lone, 60, said Mr de Mello was on the second floor of the building working in front of a computer with two other people when the blast hit. He said: "There was a huge roar of an explosion which came from behind me. All of the glass in the building smashed into places including the computer. There was just screaming and somehow I managed to stagger out into the corridor. There was blood everywhere."

He said one wounded man had a yard-long, inch-thick aluminum rod driven into his face, wedged just below his right eye.

Mahmoud Shaker, 43, said: "There was an unbelievable loud explosion and the whole building shook. Injured people covered in blood began to stream through the corridors looking for an exit."

Several vehicle parts, thought to belong to the bomber's lorry, were scattered across the ground.

Mr de Mello's mission was to co-ordinate UN humanitarian and reconstruction effort. "It is a tragedy not only personally but also a setback politically for the UN mission," said UN chief spokesman Fred Eckhard.