Rescuers have pulled at least three more bodies from the ruins of the devastated United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, raising to at least 23 the number killed in a suspected suicide truck bombing.

Three women set down candles at a vigil for the victims of the bombing of U.N. headquarters in Iraq, near the United Nations in New York, August 20, 2003.   [Reuters]

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Secretary of State Colin Powell will meet later in the day in New York to discuss a U.N. resolution that could provide greater security in Iraq. There are no plans for a mass U.N. evacuation from the country, a spokesman said on Thursday.

The top U.N. envoy in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, was among those killed. De Mello's spokesman Salim Lone said the death toll among the world body's staff had risen to 20 after more corpses were found overnight.

At least three Iraqis were also killed and at least 100 people were wounded in the bombing.

"We hope until the bitter end to find someone, but it does not look good at this stage," Lone said.

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"Yesterday evening I know they took some more bodies from the wreckage, bringing the total to at least 20."

No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing, the most devastating attack on a U.N. civilian complex in the world body's 58-year history. Iraq's U.S. governor, Paul Bremer, says the prime suspects are Saddam Hussein loyalists and groups linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

"PARTIAL EVACUATION"

Annan has vowed the U.N. will stay in Iraq and continue its work despite the bombing.

But the U.N. office in Jordan said a "partial evacuation" was under way. Planes carrying wounded U.N. staff and others who chose to leave have been arriving in Amman. Many more are expected over the coming days.

U.N. sources in Jordan said almost all international staff could be evacuated in the coming days and weeks.

Lone said those who wanted to leave could go and the wounded were also being flown out, but many staff had decided they wanted to stay in the country.

"I am staying. I will not leave. We owe it to the Iraqi people to stay here and carry on with our work," United Nations spokeswoman Veronique Taveau said.

A senior U.S. official in Washington said Powell would discuss with Annan how international efforts to end the chaos that has gripped Iraq and rebuild the country could be boosted.

The United States is searching for a way to encourage other nations to commit more troops to Iraq to provide security for humanitarian work despite its insistence on remaining firmly in control of the occupation and reconstruction of the country.

"The basic strategy is to say that rather than pulling back when we're attacked, we need to push forward," said the senior U.S. official, saying Powell and Annan were expected to discuss how to "further invigorate the international effort after the bombing rather than be intimidated into drawing back."

Diplomats said any resolution was not expected to change the U.S. command structure in Iraq and therefore would not meet the demands of countries like France, which has insisted on a much broader U.N. mandate as a condition of sending troops.

BLOW TO RECONSTRUCTION

The bombing dealt a huge blow to efforts to rebuild Iraq. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund, which had been leading efforts to draw up a survey of Iraq's needs ahead of a donors' conference in Spain in October, said they were pulling out staff and it was too early to say when they would return.

Officials have said pledges of more than $5 billion would be needed to keep the floundering economy afloat in 2004.

Annan has questioned reports that offers of tighter U.S. security had been refused before the Baghdad blast.

"I don't know if the United Nations did turn down an offer for protection. But if it did, it was not correct and they should not have been allowed to turn it down," he said.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Wednesday he saw no need to send more U.S. troops, who total 139,000, with another 24,000 from other countries, primarily Britain.

Attacks on occupying troops have killed 62 U.S. and seven British soldiers since Washington declared major combat over on May 1. The U.S. Army says Saddam loyalists are mainly to blame but is also increasingly warning of the threat of foreign militants it says have entered Iraq to attack U.S. forces.

The U.S. military said on Wednesday one soldier was killed and one wounded in a vehicle accident after their supply convoy came under fire near Diwaniya, south of Baghdad.

In Saddam's home town of Tikrit, north of Baghdad, a U.S. citizen working for the military as a translator was killed and two soldiers were wounded after their convoy was fired on with AK-47 assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.

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