New York, Aug 22: American investigators looking into the suicide bombing of the United Nations Headquarters in Baghdad are focusing on the possibility that the attackers were assisted by Iraqi security guards who worked there, a senior American official was today quoted as saying. Ever since the bombing, there has been finger pointing between the united states-led coalition and the United Nations on the issue of security. While the coalition has hinted that the united nations had refused its offer for providing security, Secretary General Kofi Annan has said it was the duty of the coalition to do so. In a report from Baghdad, 'The New York Times' quoted the official as saying all of the guards at the compound were agents of the Iraqi secret service to whom the reported on the United Nations activities before the war. The UN continued to employ them after the war was over, the official said, adding when investigators began questioning the guards, two of them asserted that they were entitled to "diplomatic immunity" and refused to cooperate. Diplomats working in foreign countries are often entitled to immunity from prosecution by local authorities, but the official said the two guards could make no such claim. Investigators, the times said, are continuing to question the guards.

"We believe the UN's security was seriously compromised," the official told the paper, adding that "We have serious concerns about the placement of the vehicle" and the timing of the attack.


Bureau Report