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UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations on Friday said 17 of its staffers were now confirmed to have died in this week's car bombings in Algiers along with "a devastatingly high number" of Algerians.
UN spokeswoman Marie Okabe told a press briefing that the earlier toll of 11 dead had been raised to 17, most of them Algerians, after more bodies were found in the rubble of UN facilities targeted in Tuesday's attacks.
"Seventeen UN colleagues are now confirmed dead," UN chief Ban Ki-moon said in a statement issued in Dili, capital of East Timor, where he is on official visit after attending the climate change conference in Indonesia.
"A devastatingly high number of innocent Algerians have also perished, as well as nationals from other countries," he added. "I stand with the people of Algeria and the wider region in the face of the scourge of terrorism."
The secretary general also vowed to "spare no effort in ensuring that the United Nations provides adequate security for its staff, wherever they serve."
The Algiers attacks were the bloodiest on UN facilities since the August 19, 2003 truck bomb blast at the UN office in Baghdad, which killed 22 people including special envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello.
Two senior UN officials visited Algiers at Ban's request to assess the aftermath of the bombings, which were claimed by the Al-Qaeda's Branch in the Islamic Maghreb (BAQMI).
Kemal Dervis, administrator for the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and Sir David Veness, the UN under secretary general for safety and security, met Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem and Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci.
Dervis said Thursday that the work of the world body in Algeria would continue, adding that it was seeking new premises for the 145 people employed, 115 of them Algerians.
Offices of UNDP, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Labour Organisation were razed in the attacks.
- AFP /ls
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