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Bomb Explodes at ICRC Headquarters in Baghdad
Written by
Bonnie Gillespie
, Staff Writer, Redcross.org
Monday, October 27, 2003 — Two Iraqi employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were killed in a bomb explosion outside the organization's office in Baghdad Monday morning (Oct. 27). Numerous others are reported injured after the blast detonated only a few yards from the main entrance of the ICRC’s main office building.
At the time of the bombing, the ICRC had a core team of staff working in Baghdad, along with hundreds of Iraqi colleagues.
The ICRC headquarters in Baghdad is where people came to inquire about medical assistance, food and water distribution and restoring contact with missing family members. |
ICRC delegate Nada Doumani said the agency had been working in Iraq since 1980 and was involved in visiting detainees, monitoring compliance with the Geneva Convention and other humanitarian work.
The ICRC also offers emergency medical aid in conjunction with the Iraqi Red Crescent, provides water and sanitation and educates Iraqis on how to avoid land mines and other explosives left over from warfare.
"We believe we have to stay here because we do have an important job to do here for the Iraqis," Doumani told CNN. "I hope Iraqis won't have to pay the price for such individual horrible acts."
U.N. agencies, which scaled back their operations following the August bombing of its facilities, saw Monday's bombing as another assault on the very people trying to help Iraqis.
"Everybody is quite shaken about another attack on a humanitarian agency…," said Ron Redmond, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva.
The ICRC was the main international relief organization to maintain operations in Baghdad and Basra during the U.S.-led invasion earlier this year, staffing six international workers and several dozen Iraqis to provide help to hospitals.
The ICRC condemns this attack in the strongest terms and expresses its heartfelt sympathy to the victims and their families. All deliberate attacks causing death or injury among civilians are strictly prohibited by international humanitarian law and negate the most basic principles of humanity, the ICRC said in a statement following the incident. The organization will be reassessing its working conditions in Baghdad over the next few days.
The American Red Cross staff and volunteers have sent condolences to their colleagues at the ICRC and extend sympathies to the families who lost loved ones during this tragedy.
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