Cars burn outside the UN headquarters in Baghdad after a huge explosion. (AFP)

BAGHDAD, 20 August 2003 — A suicide attacker set off a truck bomb yesterday at the hotel housing UN headquarters here. At least 20 UN workers and Iraqis were killed, including the chief UN representative in Iraq, and 100 were wounded. Sergio Vieira de Mello, a 55-year-old veteran Brazilian diplomat, was in his office when the explosion ripped through the building about 4:30 p.m. and was trapped in the rubble.

Rescue workers battled into the night to save those trapped in the rubble as US President George W. Bush vowed not to be intimidated by “terrorists” and diehard supporters of fugitive dictator Saddam Hussein.

The explosion came hours after the United States said Saddam’ vice president, Taha Yassin Ramadan, No. 20 on a US list of the 55 most-wanted Iraqis, had been captured in Mosul. Al-Jazeera satellite television said Ramadan was captured by Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) troops. He was wearing peasant clothing as a disguise. “He was hiding among his relatives or colleagues,” PUK spokesman Latif Rashid said.

Vieira de Mello’s death was announced by UN spokesman Fred Eckhard in New York. All the national flags that ring the UN headquarters’ entrance in New York were removed from their poles. The blue and white UN flag was lowered to half staff.

Vieira de Mello survived for several hours in the wreckage of his office. It took the full force of the blast and may have been targeted.

Speaking before he confirmed the envoy’s death, chief UN spokesman Fred Eckhard stressed that the US occupying force was responsible for providing security in Iraq. Some of the UN’s 300 or so staffers were still trapped, officials at the scene said.

“I can’t move. I can’t feel my legs and arms. Dozens of people I know are still under the ruins,” Majid Al-Hamaidi, 43, a driver for the World Bank, cried out.

“Such terrorist incidents cannot break the will of the international community to further intensify its efforts to help the people of Iraq,” the Security Council said in a statement.

There was no claim of responsibility, just as there was none two weeks ago when a truck bomb shattered the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad, killing 17 people.

Bernard Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner who is rebuilding the Iraqi police force, told reporters that evidence suggested the attack was a suicide bombing. “There was an enormous amount of explosives in what we believed to be a large truck,” Kerik added.

According to witnesses, a cement truck exploded at a concrete wall outside the hotel, but there were conflicting reports about whether the truck was parked or trying to drive through the security barrier.

Among the dead was a Canadian who died at Wasiti Hospital, Dr. Safa Jamil said. The Canadian was not identified. A senior UNICEF official also was seriously wounded, UN officials said. Clouds of black smoke ruffled the sky blue UN flag in the hot Baghdad evening as dazed and bleeding workers were led from the rubble by US soldiers, some of them ferried off on stretchers to hospitals by US military helicopters.

“I saw legs and arms, charred remains,” said journalist Grant Hodgson, who was at a UN news conference when the blast struck.

Last week, the Security Council set aside bitter differences over the US invasion that toppled Saddam and set up a mission to coordinate its mainly humanitarian effort in Iraq. Washington has rejected transferring power to the United Nations. After splits with allies like France, Russia and Germany over the war, Washington has shown little haste in seeking a bigger part for the United Nations in Iraq, although it would like more countries to share the burden of running the country. The UN complex houses numerous UN agencies and was the base for inspectors during the hunt for Saddam’s banned weapons. Television pictures from inside the three-story building showed a man addressing reporters when it went dark at the sound of a huge explosion, around 4:30 p.m. (1230 GMT). — Additional input from agencies