Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=8/20/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=JORDAN / U-N EVACUEES (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-306675

BYLINE=SCOTT BOBB

DATELINE=AMMAN

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

///EDS: ACTS ARE OF MARGINAL QUALITY///

INTRO: Victims of the Tuesday truck bomb attack at the United Nations headquarters in Iraq have begun to arrive in Jordan. V-O-A correspondent Scott Bobb reports from Amman that the first planeload of evacuees arrived Wednesday at a military airport outside the Jordanian capital.

TEXT: The first of several flights carrying U-N personnel from Baghdad arrived midday at Amman's Marka airport and was met by United Nations officials based in Jordan.

U-N officials at the facility say they were bringing in people who were wounded in Tuesday's bomb attack as well as non-essential staff members who have been ordered to leave Iraq.

The wounded are being treated at a Jordanian military hospital in Amman and a field hospital in Iraq. The Jordanian government offered the facilities Tuesday, hours after a truck bomb hit the U-N headquarters in Baghdad.

Jordan's minister of state for foreign affairs, Shaher Bak, told V-O-A the attacks came as a shock but said Jordan would continue to support the United Nations and its efforts to help rebuild Iraq.

/// BAK ACT///

I don't think we need to review our position. Our position is very clear: Iraq (is) an independent state with its own sovereignty, its own unity, being governed by its own people. So therefore, I don't think our aims or our position has to change at all.

/// END ACT ///

Jordan's embassy in Baghdad was devastated last week by a car bombing in which 17 people were killed and more than 57 were wounded. Until then, a resistance by what were characterized as supporters of the deposed regime of Saddam Hussein had targeted primarily U-S military personnel.

Some officials say foreign fighters have infiltrated Iraq and suggest that members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network may now be operating in the country.

Mr. Bak notes similarities in the attacks on his embassy and the U-N headquarters, but he said it is too early to say who is behind them.

/// BAK 2nd ACT ///

We see a lot of things, which is to say similarities to what happened yesterday (Tuesday) and the attack our embassy faced last week. I don't say they are the same group. I don't have information. That's the fact. But what we have to be sure is that we have to face a situation which is going to be very difficult in the future.

/// END ACT ///

U-N officials say more flights are scheduled for Thursday.

Initial reports said all expatriate U-N workers would be evacuated. But senior U-N officials have since indicated some foreign staff will stay on and underscored that U-N operations in Iraq will not stop because of Tuesday's attack. (Signed)

NEB/SB/ALW/RH/FC