BAGHDAD — Iraqi and United Nations officers on Saturday marked the twentieth anniversary of a lethal assault on the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad.

The Aug. 19, 2003, truck bomb assault on the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, which housed the U.N. headquarters in Iraq on the time, killed 22 U.N. workers together with the top, Sergio Vieira de Mello, a rising U.N. star. It was the deadliest assault in opposition to U.N. workers in its historical past.

The assault got here within the wake of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq that toppled the dictator, Saddam Hussein, however unleashed an insurgency and years of brutal civil battle within the nation.

At the commemoration ceremony held Saturday on the website of the assault, which has since been transformed right into a rehabilitation middle for individuals battling dependancy, the top of the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, stated that the “wounds created by the 2003 attack – and the violence that came after it – run deep” and “may never fully heal.”

But Hennis-Plasschaert pointed to latest positive aspects in Iraq’s stability and makes an attempt by the present authorities to enhance social companies.

The previous 20 years have been “a very rough road,” she stated. “But all through these years, the United Nations has not given up on its efforts to contribute to peace and stability in Iraq.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein, talking on the occasion, referred to as the assault “one of the most tragic incidents in the history of Iraq” and affirmed the nation’s dedication to combating terrorism. As for the U.N. staff who misplaced their lives, he stated, “their achievements will remain in the history of Iraq.”

A day earlier, on the U.N. headquarters in New York, officers held a silent commemoration and skim out the names of the victims.

President of the U.N. General Assembly Csaba Kőrösi met briefly with among the survivors. In an announcement, he hailed “humanitarian workers, who race to save lives, and remain at crisis scenes long after the global spotlight dims.”

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