Annan puts death toll in Baghdad bombing at 23

New York, Aug 22: The massive bomb attack against the United Nations in Baghdad has killed 23 people and the toll is expected to rise, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said yesterday.

''At present, we know that 23 people are dead, but only 10 have been identified,'' he told UN staff at headquarters in New York. ''The death toll is expected to rise, since some of the injured are in critical condition, while others are still missing and may lie buried beneath the rubble.''

Annan said that rescue and recovery efforts were time-consuming, and the process of identifying the dead was ''painfully slow''.

Bureau Report