UN scales back staff in Iraq after bombings

Following two attacks on its Baghdad offices, the United Nations has said it had begun pulling some international staff out of Iraq and more withdrawals would follow.

The violence in Iraq yesterday claimed the life of Dr Aquila al-Hashimi, one of three women on the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, who was shot five days ago and severely wounded by masked assailants in Baghdad.

UN sources said they could not rule out an eventual drawdown to as few as one or two international staffers, depending on how the security situation evolved.

The decision was a setback to efforts by US President George Bush to expand the UN role in Iraqi reconstruction, in order to attract broader international support for the costly and hazardous effort.

But the White House quickly said the UN still had an important role to play in Iraq. "We certainly understand their concerns and understand their reasons for pursuing a reduction, but they have a vital role and we want them to continue to play that vital role," White House spokesman Mr Scott McClellan said.

UN spokesman Mr Fred Eckhard called the transfer of staffers to nearby Amman, Jordan, "a temporary redeployment of international staff in Iraq". He said 42 international staff remained for now in Baghdad and 44 in northern Iraq, down from about a hundred, and "these numbers can be expected to shrink further over the next few days."

US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell reported some progress however on reaching a consensus in the Security Council over on a new resolution on rebuilding Iraq. "I am pleased - and I think my colleagues on the P5 [permanent five members of the Security Council\] are pleased - that we have seen some convergence of views with respect to the new resolution," he said.

Meanwhile, the US administrative chief, Mr Paul Bremer, sent a message of condolence to Dr al-Hashimi's family and also to her colleagues on the 25-member council established in July. He said: "Today the people of Iraq have lost a champion and pioneer of freedom and democracy."

Three days of national mourning were declared. She will be buried today.

Dr al-Hashimi was the first council member to be targeted by opponents of the occupation and the second high-profile personality associated with the US administration to be assassinated. Ayatollah Muhammad Baqr al-Hakim, founder of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, was killed last month by a car-bomb in Najaf.

Dr al-Hashimi was a member of Iraq's majority Shia community, a career diplomat and an advocate of women's rights. She joined the Foreign Ministry, rising to the post of director of external relations under the former Baathist regime.

In the run-up to the war, Dr al-Hashimi defended the policies of the ousted government at a number of international gatherings. But in the aftermath of the war, she backed the US intervention.

The current chairman of the council, Mr Ahmad Chalabi, blamed the assassination of Dr al-Hashimi on remnants of the Baathist regime, toppled by US forces in April. But an Iraqi source said that Dr al-Hashimi, who did not wear the conservative Islamic headscarf as do the other two female council members, may have been targeted by conservative Islamists opposed to any role for women in the governance of the country. It is likely that she will be replaced by another woman.

The violence in Iraq continued yesterday when a bomb exploded outside a Baghdad hotel used by the US television network NBC. It killed a Somali hotel guard and injured two others people.