New Delhi, Aug 21: India today responded guardedly to reports of a new UN resolution on Iraq being worked out to enable countries like India to send troops to participate in the stabilisation force in the war-ravaged country. "India as well as the entire international community has seen the tragic event that has taken place in Iraq," External Affairs Ministry spokesman told reporters while referring to the truck bomb attack on UN office in Baghdad on Tuesday.

"On the developments in UN, India alongwith the rest of the international community is watching them with interest. We will see what happens out of that," he said.

India has stuck to its stand that if an explicit UN mandate was there, it would consider sending troops to Iraq. New Delhi yesterday condemned the bomb attack in which 23 people, including UN special envoy Sergio Vieira De Mello, were killed.

In a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha said "no words can be strong enough in condemning the reprehensible act of terrorism that took away the lives of several dedicated UN personnel".

Bureau Report