Zeack News

Dharam Shourie

United Nations, June 11 : UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed "dismay" at the rising death toll from Tuesday's suicide bombing of a luxury hotel in Peshawar, which killed 17 persons, including two United Nations staff members.



In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Ban reiterated "his strong condemnation of this brutal act of terror against innocent people, many of whom were in Peshawar to carry out humanitarian work." Among the dead was Aleksandar Vorkapic, who worked for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). He leaves behind a wife and three children.



Vorkapic, a Serb national, was on his first emergency mission as part of the UNHCR team recently sent to Pakistan to assist with the current displacement crisis in NWFP, with over two million people fleeing the conflict between Government forces and Taliban militants in the Swat district.



Also killed in the blast was the Chief of Education in Pakistan of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), Perseveranda So, from the Philippines, who had been with the agency since 1994.



Another four UN staff members two from the UN World Food Programme (WFP), one from the UN World Health Organisation (WHO) and one from UNICEF were among those injured in the attack, UN spokesperson Marie Okabe said.