October 31, 2003	Friday	Ramazan 4, 1424

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UNITED NATIONS, Oct 30: The United Nations has decided to pull out all it’s staff out of Baghdad, following spate of bombings, while it evaluates the security situation in Iraq, UN spokeswoman Marie Okabe said late on Wednesday.

However, the UN workers will remain in northern Iraq, she said.

“We have asked our staff in Baghdad to come out temporarily for consultations with a team from headquarters on the future of our operations, in particular security arrangements that we would need to take to operate in Iraq,” she added.

“This decision is not an evacuation and it doesn’t affect the North.” Ms Okabe would not say when the staff would leave Baghdad or give other details.

On Monday, suicide attackers killed at least 34 people and wounded more than 200 in coordinated attacks at the International Committee of the Red Cross office and four Iraqi police stations in Baghdad.

The UN decision was announced two days after a deadly suicide car bombing at the Baghdad headquarters of the Red Cross.