BAGHDAD, Aug 20: The truck bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad had left 24 dead, a top UN official said on Wednesday.

“There were at least 21 dead at the morgue on Wednesday morning and three more bodies have been found in the rubble, including that of a woman who just arrived in Baghdad yesterday,” said the official, who asked not to be named.

An AFP tally of wounded checked in at hospitals around Baghdad came to 107.

US CITIZENS: At least two US citizens were among the 24 people killed in Baghdad, the State Department said on Wednesday.

Spokesman Richard Boucher said a third US citizen may have died in the attack and that there were fears the number could rise as the rubble is cleared.

“We know that two American citizens were killed in the attack in Baghdad,.” spokesman Richard Boucher said, adding that one of them had been an employee of the United Nations.

Meanwhile, Iraq’s 25-member interim Governing Council blamed the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad on either followers of Saddam Hussein or foreign terrorists.—AFP

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