UN concerns over Baghdad security

Dozens of people are still missing in the blast

The United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has insisted the US-led coalition powers in Iraq are responsible for security around the bombed UN building in Baghdad.

But he stopped short of blaming the United States for not preventing the attack, saying both the UN and the US had made mistakes.

At least 20 people were killed in Tuesday's truck bomb explosion, including the UN special representative for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

Mr Annan is due to meet US Secretary of State Colin Powell in New York on Thursday.

US officials said the two men would be discussing proposals from the US and UK for another UN resolution to encourage international support for troops in Iraq.

Earlier, the US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Washington had no plans to increase the number of troops in Iraq.

Click here to see a graphic showing how the truck bomber struck

Mr Annan cut short a holiday in Scandinavia to attend an emergency Security Council meeting in New York.

The UN later issued a statement, vowing to stay in Iraq to help the Iraqi people to decide their future.

Obituary: Sergio Vieira de Mello Iraqis gripped by insecurity

Earlier, Mr Annan he told reporters he was surprised to hear reports that the UN had turned down an offer of security from the US-led troops.

"I don't know if the UN did turn down an offer for protection, but if it did, it was not correct and it shouldn't have been allowed to turn it down," Mr Annan said.

"That kind of decision should not be left to the protected. It is those with responsibility for security and law and order, who have intelligence, which determines what action is taken."

Following his talks with Mr Powell, Mr Annan will later meet the UK Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw.

'Suicide bomb'

The UN has evacuated 20 workers injured in the blast to Jordan, but spokesman Fred Eckhard said only two out of about 300 staff in Baghdad had accepted an offer of voluntary repatriation.

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund - organisations involved in rebuilding Iraq's economy - have ordered their staff out. The European Commission is also recalling some of its staff.

The US administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, said the bomb may have been planted by "foreign terrorists".

American investigators at the scene of the blast said they had found human remains inside the truck used in the blast, heightening speculation it was a suicide bombing.

The UN should never have accepted to clean up this mess and now scores of professionals have paid the ultimate price for this folly Richard Cox, Belgium Have your say

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which is helping Iraqi police investigate the bombing, said up to 1,500 lb (680 kg) of explosives, including shells and grenades, were used in the attack.

"These munitions were probably in the possession of Iraqi military during Saddam's regime," said FBI agent Thomas Fuentes.

"Someone with access to large military cache put them on truck and drove it down an open street."

The FBI is trying to track down vehicle registration records in Iraq to find the possible number plate of the truck, which had been thrown more 450 metres (1,500 feet) in the blast.

A member of Iraq's interim governing council, Ahmad Chalabi, said the council warned the US of a possible terror attack days before the blast.

He said he received information on 14 August that a truck would be used in a large-scale terror attack "aimed at a soft target in Baghdad".

In a fresh attack on US forces on Wednesday, a soldier died when his vehicle collided with another vehicle after coming under fire about 150 kilometres (90 miles) south of Baghdad.

In northern Iraq, an interpreter working for the Americans died in Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit. He was in a military convoy which came under attack from rocket-propelled grenades. Two US soldiers were wounded.

UN HEADQUARTERS BOMBING

1. Truck seen on access road next to UN compound before it exploded.
2. Explosion destroyed three storeys, including office of Sergio Vieira de Mello
3. Explosion left crater nearly five metres across and two metres deep

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