UNITED NATIONS, Aug 20: A horrified and saddened world community mourned the loss of one of its most respected diplomat and called on the United Nations not to let the bomb attack deter it from its mission in Iraq.

Staff at UN headquarters in New York, many in tears, recalled dead or missing colleagues, among them Sergio Vieira de Mello, head of the world body’s operation in Iraq and one of at least 20 people killed in Tuesday’s blast.

Sergio Vieira de Mello, a rising star in the United Nations who took on the tough job of UN Secretary General’s envoy to Iraq, was killed in a truck bombing at his offices in Baghdad. He was 55. He took a leave of absence from his job as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in June to accept a four-month assignment.

For more than 30 years, the veteran diplomat worked to bring peace to the world’s most dangerous hot spots. His diplomatic skills were so admired that he had been talked about as a future secretary-general for the United Nations.

In Iraq, Vieira de Mello in his last published interview, sympathized with Iraqi resentment of foreign occupation.

“It must be one of the most humiliating periods in their history. Who would like to see their country occupied? I would not like to see foreign tanks in Copacabana,” Vieira de Mello told the Brazilian newspaper Estado de Sao Paulo in an interview published on Monday.

He joined the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in 1969, serving in Bangladesh during its independence movement in 1971.

UN Chief Kofi Annan immediately cancelled his holiday in Europe to return to UN Headquarters in New York, and the Security Council held emergency consultations.