VOA News
19 Aug 2003, 13:10 UTC
A car bomb has exploded outside the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad.
A U.N. spokeswoman says several people were injured by the blast, and American military ambulances and helicopters were seen evacuating those who were badly hurt.
Western broadcasters reported that the top U.N. representative to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, was among those injured in the blast. Those reports could not be immediately confirmed.
The explosion hit shortly after 4:30 p.m. in Baghdad, and video from the scene has shown a badly collapsed building. Witnesses said U.N. workers and Iraqis were among those hurt.
The explosion was powerful enough to break windows for more than a kilometer around the Canal Hotel complex where the United Nations has its Iraq headquarters.
Also Tuesday came word that Saddam Hussein's former vice president, Taha Yassin Ramadan, has been captured by Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq and turned over to the U.S. military.
An American military spokesman says Mr. Ramadan was captured in the city of Mosul by members of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, and turned over to American control Tuesday.
He is number 20 on the U.S. list of 55 most-wanted members of the former Iraqi regime. Mr. Ramadan is the "10 of diamonds" in the deck of cards given to soldiers to help them recognize wanted Iraqi officials.
Mr. Ramadan was widely considered to be as ruthless as Saddam Hussein, and was believed to be one of the regime's "enforcers." He is 65 years old, and was named vice president of Iraq in 1991.
Meanwhile, sporadic attacks continue against American forces in Iraq. A U.S. officer in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit said Iraqi gunmen used the cover of a civilian ambulance today to fire on American forces late Monday. The spokesman said at least two Iraqis were wounded in the resulting gun battle.
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