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Canal Hotel Bombing

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Canal Hotel Bombing



 
 
The Canal Hotel Bombing in Baghdad
Baghdad

Baghdad is the Capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is also coterminous. With a municipal population estimated at 6.5 million, it is the largest city in Iraq, and the second largest city in the Arab World....
, Iraq
Iraq

Iraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros Mountains, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, in the afternoon of August 19, 2003, killed at least 22 people, including Sérgio Vieira de Mello
Sérgio Vieira de Mello

S?rgio Vieira de Mello was a Brazilian United Nations diplomat who worked for the UN for more than 34 years, earning respect and praise around the world for his efforts in the humanitarian and political programs of the UN....
, and wounded over 100. The blast targeted the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq
United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq is an entity that was formed by the United Nations in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1500 on 14 August 2003....
 created just 5 days earlier (the United Nations
United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, Social change, human rights and achieving world peace....
 had used the hotel as its headquarters in Iraq since 1991.) The attack was followed by a second bombing a month later which resulted in a withdrawal of the 600 UN staff members in Iraq. These events were to have a profound and lasting impact on the UN's security practices globally.

explosion occurred while Martin Barber, director of the UN's Mine Action
Mine action

Mine action is a domain within humanitarian aid and development studies concerned with activities which aim to reduce the social, economic and environmental impact of landmines and the explosive remnants of war ....
 Service (UNMAS) was holding a press conference.






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The Canal Hotel Bombing in Baghdad
Baghdad

Baghdad is the Capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is also coterminous. With a municipal population estimated at 6.5 million, it is the largest city in Iraq, and the second largest city in the Arab World....
, Iraq
Iraq

Iraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros Mountains, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, in the afternoon of August 19, 2003, killed at least 22 people, including Sérgio Vieira de Mello
Sérgio Vieira de Mello

S?rgio Vieira de Mello was a Brazilian United Nations diplomat who worked for the UN for more than 34 years, earning respect and praise around the world for his efforts in the humanitarian and political programs of the UN....
, and wounded over 100. The blast targeted the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq
United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq is an entity that was formed by the United Nations in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1500 on 14 August 2003....
 created just 5 days earlier (the United Nations
United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, Social change, human rights and achieving world peace....
 had used the hotel as its headquarters in Iraq since 1991.) The attack was followed by a second bombing a month later which resulted in a withdrawal of the 600 UN staff members in Iraq. These events were to have a profound and lasting impact on the UN's security practices globally.

The bombing

The explosion occurred while Martin Barber, director of the UN's Mine Action
Mine action

Mine action is a domain within humanitarian aid and development studies concerned with activities which aim to reduce the social, economic and environmental impact of landmines and the explosive remnants of war ....
 Service (UNMAS) was holding a press conference. The explosion
Explosion

An explosion is a sudden increase in volume and release of energy in an extreme manner, usually with the generation of high temperatures and the release of gases....
 damaged a spinal cord
Spinal cord

The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular bundle of neuron and glia that extends from the brain. The brain and spinal cord together make up the central nervous system....
 treatment center at the hospital
Hospital

A hospital is an institution for health care providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment, and often but not always providing for longer-term patient stays....
 next door and a U.S. Army Civil-Military Operations Centre
Civil-military operations center

A civil-military operations center or CMOC is a center usually established by a military force for coordinating civil-military operations in an Area of operation....
 located at the rear of the Canal Hotel, and the resulting shockwave
Shock wave

A shock wave is a type of propagating disturbance. Like an ordinary wave, it carries energy and can propagate through a medium or in some cases in the absence of a material medium, through a field such as the electromagnetic field....
 was felt over a mile away.

The blast was caused by a suicide bomber driving a truck bomb. The vehicle has been identified as a large 2002 flatbed Kamaz
Kamaz

Kamaz is a Russian truck manufacturer located in Naberezhnye Chelny, Tatarstan, Russian Federation. KAMAZ assembled their first truck model in February 1976 and now, 32 years later, the heavy duty models are exported to many countries including Eastern Europe, China, the Middle East, and North Africa....
 (manufactured in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is a term that applies to the geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the Europe. Throughout history and to a lesser extent today, parts of Eastern Europe has been distinguishable from Western Europe and other regions due to cultural, religious, economic, and historical reasons, even though there i...
; part of the former Iraqi establishment's fleet). Investigators in Iraq suspected the bomb was made from old munitions, including a single 500-pound bomb, possibly from Iraq's pre-war arsenal. Investigators said that such items would not require any "great degree of sophistication" to assemble.

There is speculation that Sérgio Vieira de Mello
Sérgio Vieira de Mello

S?rgio Vieira de Mello was a Brazilian United Nations diplomat who worked for the UN for more than 34 years, earning respect and praise around the world for his efforts in the humanitarian and political programs of the UN....
, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, may have been specifically targeted in the blast due to the proximity of the explosion to his office. The UN building may have been chosen due to its limited security. Another motive to the bombing could be the UN imposed sanctions on Iraq. The OCHA
Ocha

Ocha may refer to:* Glen James Ocha , an American executed for murder* OCHA, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs...
 Humanitarian Information Centre (HIC) for Iraq (UNOHCI) was located directly beneath Vieira de Mello’s office and suffered a direct hit. Of the eight staff and one visitor in the office at the time, seven were killed instantly, but Sergio Vieira de Mello and Gil Loescher were critically wounded and trapped in debris under the collapsed portion of the building. An American soldier - First Sergeant William von Zehle - crawled down through the collapsed building and worked to extricate the two men. He was joined later by another American soldier - Staff Sergeant Andre Valentine - and the two men spent the next three hours trying to extricate the two survivors without benefit of any rescue equipment. Loescher was rescued after having his crushed legs amputated by the soldiers, but Vieira de Mello passed away shortly before he would have been able to have been removed.

Second bomb

The bombing was followed on September 22, 2003, by another car bomb outside the Canal Hotel. The blast killed the bomber and an Iraqi policeman and wounded 19 others, including UN workers. The second attack led to the withdrawal of some 600 UN international staff from Baghdad, along with employees of other aid agencies. In August 2004, de Mello's replacement, Ashraf Qazi
Ashraf Qazi

Ashraf Jehangir Qazi an ethnic Pashtun is a career diplomat in the United Nations.On september 4 2007, the UN's Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed Ashraf Qazi as his new Special Representative in Sudan....
, arrived in Baghdad along with a small number of staff.

List of victims

Name Age Nationality Position
Sérgio Vieira de Mello
Sérgio Vieira de Mello

S?rgio Vieira de Mello was a Brazilian United Nations diplomat who worked for the UN for more than 34 years, earning respect and praise around the world for his efforts in the humanitarian and political programs of the UN....
55Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General
United Nations Secretary-General

The Secretary-General of the United Nations is the head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the principal organs of the United Nations. The Secretary-General also acts as the de facto spokesperson and leader of the United Nations....
 to Iraq
Nadia Younes
Nadia Younes

Nadia Younes was an Egyptian national who spent her entire career, for over 33 years, in the United Nations and the World Health Organization, rising to high-level posts in a variety of areas....
57 Chief of Staff for Vieira de Mello
Fiona Watson
Fiona Watson

Fiona Watson was a Scotland political affairs officer working in Vieira de Mello's office who was killed along with other members of UN staff in the Canal Hotel bombing in Iraq, on the afternoon of August 19, 2003....
35 Member of Vieira de Mello's staff
Jean-Sélim Kanaan
Jean-Sélim Kanaan

Jean-S?lim Kanaan was a United Nations diplomat, Egyptian, Italy and France national, who was killed in the Canal Hotel bombing in Baghdad, Iraq, along with S?rgio Vieira de Mello and other members of his staff....
33 Member of Vieira de Mello's staff
Richard 'Rick' Hooper40 Senior advisor to the UN Under-Secretary-General
Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations

An Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations is a senior official within the United Nations System, normally appointed by the United Nations General Assembly on the recommendation of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for a renewable term of four years....
 for the Department of Political Affairs
United Nations Department of Political Affairs

The United Nations Department of Political Affairs , is a department of the United Nations Secretariat of the United Nations, was established in 1992, whose focal point is Peace Building....
Chris Klein-Beekman
Chris Klein-Beekman

Chris Klein-Beekman was a Canada aid worker who was killed in the Canal Hotel bombing in Iraq. Klein-Beekman was working as the UNICEF program co-ordinator for Iraq....
32 UN Children's Fund's program coordinator
Reham Al-Farra29 Department of Public Information, Deputy Spokesperson
Martha Teas47 UNOHCI manager
Leen Assad Al-Qadi32 UNOHCI Information Assistant
Ranillo Buenaventura47UNOHCI
Reza Hosseini
Reza Hosseini

Reza Hosseini was a relief worker who was killed in the Canal Hotel bombing in Iraq. His colleagues valued him for his 'joie de vivre' and great operational skill: ?He had an air of confidence that there were no problems that couldn?t be overcome....
43UNOHCI
Ihsan Taha Husein26UNOHCI Driver
Basim Mahmoud Utaiwi40UNOHCI Security guard
Raid Shaker Mustafa Al-Mahdawi32United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC)
Gillian Clark
Gillian Clark

Gillian Clark was a Canadian aid worker who was killed in the Canal Hotel bombing in Iraq. Ms. Clark was working for the Christian Children's Fund at the time....
47Christian Children's Fund
Christian Children's Fund

The Christian Children's Fund is an international child sponsorship group based in Richmond, Virginia, United States, that provides assistance to communities in many developing countries, as well as in the United States....
Arthur Helton
Arthur Helton

Arthur Helton died in the Canal Hotel Bombing in Baghdad. He was a lawyer, refugee advocate, teacher and author who dedicated his professional life to working with refugees and recommending ways to ease their plight....
54Director of peace and conflict studies at the US Council on Foreign Relations
Council on Foreign Relations

The Council on Foreign Relations is an American nonpartisan foreign policy membership organization founded in 1921 and based at 58 East 68th Street in New York City, with an additional office in Washington, D.C....
Dr. Alya Souza54World Bank
World Bank

The World Bank is a bank that provides financial and technical assistance to developing countries for development programs with the stated goal of reducing poverty....
Manuel Martín-Oar
Manuel Martín-Oar

Spanish Naval Captain Manuel Mart?n-Oar died from injuries sustained in the Canal Hotel Bombing on the United Nations' Baghdad headquarters on Tuesday August 19, 2003, which killed 24 people....
56Naval captain, assistant to the Spanish special ambassador to Iraq
Khidir Saleem Sahir Civilian
Saad Hermiz Abona45Working for a UN subcontractor
Subcontractor

A subcontractor is an individual or in many cases a business that signs a contract to perform part or all of the obligations of another's contract....
Omar Kahtan Mohamed Al-Orfali34Driver


Marilyn Manuel, Philippines, a member of Vieira de Mello's staff originally listed as dead, stunned her family when she called home, not knowing they had been told she was dead. The cause of this was that Ms. Manuel had been evacuated to an Iraqi hospital which did not notify the UN of her presence. Consequently, she was listed as missing and presumed dead in the collapsed section of the building.

Suspects

As of 2006, the prime suspects in this bombing are followers of the late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

'Abu Musab al-Zarqawi' ) , born 'Ahmad Fadeel al-Nazal al-Khalayleh' was a Jordanian militant Islamist who ran a militant training camp in Afghanistan....
, who had purportedly claimed responsibility for this attack. In January 2005, a top bombmaker for Zarqawi's group, Abu Omar al-Kurdi
Abu Omar al-Kurdi

Abu Omar al-Kurdi, real name Sami Muhammad Ali Said al-Jaaf, was a top bombmaker for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's organization in Iraq, Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad....
, was captured by the coalition and claimed his associates made the bomb used in this attack. On December 16, 2005, Iraqi authorities issued an arrest warrant
Arrest warrant

An arrest warrant is a Warrant issued by and on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and Detention of an individual....
 for Mullah Halgurd al-Khabir, a commander of Ansar al-Sunna, in connection with the attack. In an audio tape quoted here, Zarqawi motivated the bombing of the UN building. The Italian
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 newspaper Corriere della Sera
Corriere della Sera

Corriere della Sera is an Italy daily newspaper , published in Milan.It is the most famous Italian national newspaper, and among the oldest, founded on Sunday, March 5 1876 by Eugenio Torelli Viollier....
 identified the suicide bomber as Algeria
Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country of the Mediterranean sea, second largest in the Arab World, and the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area....
n national Fahdal Nassim. Other suspects included Baathists, militant Sunni and Shiite groups, organized crime
Organized crime

Organized crime or criminal organizations comprise groups or operations run by crimes, most commonly for the purpose of generating a money profit....
, and tribal elements. Blame was initially thought to lie with Ansar al-Islam
Ansar al-Islam

Ansar al-Islam , Supporters or Partisans of Islam) is a Kurds Sunni Islamist group, promoting a radical interpretation of Islam, close to the official Saudi ideology of Wahhabism with strict application of Sharia....
, which was thought at the time to be Zarqawi's group. An otherwise unknown group called the "Armed Vanguards of the Second Mohammed Army" claimed they were responsible for the attack.

Responses

The suicide bombing of the United Nations in Baghdad drew overwhelming condemnation. Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan

Kofi Atta Annan, Order of St Michael and St George is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh United Nations Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1 January 1997 to 1 January 2007....
, United Nations Secretary-General, commented that the bombing would not stop the organization's efforts to rebuild Iraq, and said: "Nothing can excuse this act of unprovoked and murderous violence against men and women who went to Iraq for one purpose only: to help the Iraqi people recover their independence and sovereignty, and to rebuild their country as fast as possible, under leaders of their own choosing."

However, since this event the UN country team's expatriates and leaders relocated in Amman (Jordan) and continued to work remotely. Only some Iraqis have continued under drastic security measures all around the country (except in Kurdistan where they are more numerous and can move more freely). Few expatriates are, 5 years later, authorized to go inside Iraq (including Kurdistan) and only inside huge security compounds such as the so-called "Green Zone" in Baghdad. Humanitarian support is now entirely conducted inside the country by NGOs, under UN remote supervision.

See also


  • Attacks on humanitarian workers
    Attacks on humanitarian workers

    Humanitarian aid workers belonging to UN organisations, Private voluntary organizations / Non-governmental organizations or the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement have traditionally enjoyed both international legal protection, and de facto immunity from attack by belligerent parties....


External links

  • for the anniversary
      • Senior WHO official, Dr David Nabarro
        David Nabarro

        Dr. David Nabarro , works as the Senior UN System Coordinator for Avian and Human Influenza at United Nations Headquarters in New York. He has been seconded to this position from the World Health Organization....
        , describes his experience inside the Canal Hotel
    • The Canal Hotel UN Headquarters Compound