THE UN: The United Nations has pulled staff out of Baghdad as international aid agencies debated whether they could continue operating in the face of a wave of suicide bomb attacks and persistent lawlessness.
A UN spokeswoman in Geneva said foreign staff in Baghdad were leaving Iraq - temporarily at least - for talks on security, following Monday's bomb attack on the International Committee of the Red Cross which killed 12 people.
"We have asked Baghdad staff to come out temporarily for consultations with people from headquarters on the future of our operation," UN spokeswoman Ms Marie Heuze said.
Most foreign staff had already been pulled out following a suicide truck bomb attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad in August which killed 22 people, including head of mission Sergio Vieira de Mello. Since then, UN programmes have been run mostly by Iraqi staff.
The ICRC is also reducing its presence. On Wednesday, it said it was pulling out some foreign staff following Monday's bombing but would not cease operating in the country.
The Iraqi capital was shaken by a blast yesterday evening, killing at least one Iraqi and setting several buildings ablaze in the city's old quarter. However a US army spokesman said it was caused by a propane gas explosion rather than a bomb.
Near Falluja yesterday, where support for Saddam Hussein remains widespread, a freight train carrying military supplies was hit by explosives planted on the railway. Four containers were set ablaze but there were no casualties. A US convoy in Baghdad was also targeted by a roadside bomb , wounding one soldier.
France, which opposed the war and has been pressing for a swifter handover of power from occupying forces to an Iraqi government, said the recent attacks meant it was even more urgent that Iraqis be given control of their country.
"We have to define an approach which really does allow the Iraqis to take their destiny into their own hands," the Foreign Minister, Mr Dominique de Villepin, said at a meeting of European and North African foreign ministers.
- (Reuters)