Suicide car bomb explodes at UN compound in Baghdad

A car bomb exploded this morning while being examined at a checkpoint as it tried to enter the United Nations compound, killing at least two people and injuring 11 others, Iraqi police reported.

The suicide bombing occurred ;ess than 200 yards from the UN compound at the Canal Hotel, scene of a devastating car bomb last month that killed more than people, including the UN's top envoy in Iraq Sergio Vieira de Mello.

The casualties of today's blast, which could be heard over much of the Iraqi capital, appeared to be the driver and Iraqi police.

"It appears to have been a suicide bombing. The bomber drove up and was engaged by an Iraqi security individual just before the checkpoint," a US Army spokesman, Captain Sean Kirley, told reporters at the scene. The policeman was killed, although it was not clear whether he was shot or died in the explosion, he said.

The explosion ocurred as the UN General Assembly was meeting in New York where the United States is expected to offer the world body an expanded role in rebuilding Iraq, a condition set by many nations for contributing peacekeepers and money to the reconstruction effort.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has made clear he wants assurances of security for UN personnel in Baghdad along with any expanded role.

The United Nations curtailed its efforts in Iraq after last month's bombing. At the time of the attack, there were about 300 international staff in Baghdad and more than 300 elsewhere in Iraq. These numbers are thought to have now been dramatically reduced.

The bomb exploded two days after an assassination attempt against Aquila al-Hashimi, one of three women on the Iraqi Governing Council and a leading candidate to become Iraq's UN ambassador if the interim government wins approval to take the country's UN seat. She was reported in critical but stable condition following the attack on Saturday, which occurred as she was in a car near her home in western Baghdad.

The Governing council president, Ahmad Chalabi, blamed remnants of the regime of Saddam Hussein, whose government was toppled by US-led forces in April. Since President Bush declared an end to major combat operations 1 May, more than 160 American soldiers have been killed.

More than 300 US soldiers who have died in Iraq since the US-led coalition launched military operations March 20. The ongoing violence has raised questions about American stewardship of the country and has led to calls for an expanded role for the United Nations in post-Saddam Iraq.

President Bush said yesterday that he was not sure that the United States will have to yield a significantly larger role to the United Nations to make way for a new resolution on Iraq. He continued to insist on an orderly transfer of authority to the Iraqis rather than the quick action demanded by France.

In an interview with Fox News, he said he will declare in his speech tomorrow at the UN General Assembly that he "made the right decision and the others that joined us made the right decision" to invade Iraq. But the president said he will ask other nations to do more to help stabilize Iraq.

"We would like a larger role for member states of the United Nations to participate in Iraq. I mean, after all, we've got member states now, Great Britain and Poland, leading multinational divisions to help make the country more secure," he said.

Asked if he was willing to have the United Nations to play a larger role in the political developments in Iraq to get a new resolution, he replied: "I'm not so sure we have to, for starters."

But he said he did think it would be helpful to get UN help in writing a constitution for Iraq. "I mean, they're good at that," he said. "Or, perhaps when an election starts, they'll oversee the election. That would be deemed a larger role."