Cowen says bomb is an attack on international community

IRAQ/UN: The Minister for Foreign Affairs has condemned yesterday's bomb attack on the UN's Baghdad headquarters as an assault "on the entire international community".

Mr Cowen said attacks on UN representatives could not be tolerated or justified in any way. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq was there to assist the Iraqi people.

"This attack is clearly a blow to the efforts of the United Nations in Iraq, but the UN must not be deterred from its crucial humanitarian tasks in that country."

Mr Cowen expressed his sympathy to the family of the UN special envoy to Iraq, Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello, who was killed in the attack, and to the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr Kofi Annan. He also offered condolences to the families of others who were killed.

The Labour Party spokesman on foreign affairs, Mr Michael D. Higgins, also extended his sympathies to those killed and injured, saying that the UN offered "the only prospect" of restoring peace to Iraq.

The attack was an indication of the "chaos" into which Iraq had ben plunged in the aftermath of the US-led invasion, he said.

The chairman of the Red Cross, and former minister for foreign affairs, Mr David Andrews, who had worked with Mr de Mello in East Timor, said his death was a great loss to the United Nations.