UN reinforces security in compounds following Boston terror bombings

The United Nations is beefing up security at its Headquarters in New York and at other compounds following Monday’s terror bombings at the Boston Marathon which killed three people and wounded 170 more.

“We are also trying to strengthen the security measures all throughout the missions around the world,” Mr. Ban told a news briefing in New York.

The UN is no stranger to terrorist attacks. The bombing of its headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq, on 19 August 2003, killed 22 people, including mission head Sergio Vieira de Mello. On 11 December 2007, in Algiers, 17 staff members died when a car bomb destroyed the offices of the UN Development Programme (UNDP and damaged those of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). On 28 October 2009, five staffers in Afghanistan were killed and another nine wounded in an attack on a guest house in Kabul.

Mr. Ban said he hoped the United States authorities will be able to find the perpetrators of the Boston bombings and bring them to justice. “I sincerely hope that the international community should be committed and united in fighting against any such terrorist attacks,” he said.