UN flies flag at half-mast to mourn five staff killed in Afghanistan

A UN flag flies half-mask outside the UN  headquarters building in New York, the United  States, Oct. 29, 2009, mourning for the five UN  staff members killed in a Wednesday attack in  the Afghan capital of Kabul.(Xinhua/Shen Hong)

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations on Thursday flew its blue flag at half-mast at the UN Headquarters in New York to mourn the UN staff members who were killed in a terrorist attack on Wednesday morning in the Afghan capital of Kabul.

The UN flag were hoisted at half-mast before the UN Secretariat Building in the compound on the First Avenue in midtown Manhattan, central New York City, and another blue flag was seen flying at half-mast near the visitor's entrance.

The United Nations took the mourning step following the deadly attack that killed at least five UN staff members and wounded nine others at the UN guesthouse in Kabul.

"Not counting (UN) peacekeepers, 27 UN civilian personnel have lost their lives to violence so far this year, more than half of them in Afghanistan and Pakistan," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters here after he briefed the closed-door meeting of the Security Council.

"Increasingly, the United Nations is being targeted. In this case, precisely because of our support for the Afghan elections," he said.

"We are not deterred," Ban said. "But we can not do it alone, we need support of the member states."

"We must realistically assess the situation and put in place more effective projections for our staff as they perform their crucial tasks," he said. "This was the main purpose my briefing to the Security Council."