UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- From its headquarters in New York to front-line missions in the field, the entire United Nations system on Friday marked the second anniversary of the deadly terrorist attack on the UN office in Baghdad, one of the darkest days in the world body's history.

    "Our fallen colleagues, taken from us in the prime of their lives, embodied our organization's ideals," UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a message released earlier in the day.

    The bombing killed 22 people, including the top UN envoy in Iraq and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Sergio Vieira de Mello, and injured hundreds.

    "They were courageous and unstinting in their devotion to helping people in impoverished and war-torn lands build better lives. Their commitment and achievements made all of us proud to work for the United Nations," he added.

    "The question of justice lingers, too, as no-one has been held to account for this crime, offering yet another appalling example of the impunity that so often follows assaults on United Nations personnel around the world, be they peacekeepers, humanitarian workers or others."

    In Baghdad, almost within site of the ruins of the Canal Hotel where the terrorists struck, Annan's Special Representative AshrafQazi and staff of the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) gathered to lay a wreath and observe a moment of silence in honor of the victims.

    At the UN Headquarters in New York, Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette laid a wreath in front of the memorial plaque to the victims in the General Assembly lobby, next to the tattered UN flag that flew above the Canal Hotel in Baghdad on Aug. 19, 2003.

    The 15-member Security Council stood in silence in honor of thefallen. "On behalf of the Security Council I would like to pay tribute once again to those who lost their lives or were injured,"the council president for August, Ambassador Kenzo Oshima of Japan,said in a statement afterwards to the press.

    "The Security Council strongly condemns the continuing terrorist attacks against, amongst others, the representatives of the international community in Iraq," he added.

    Survivors of the attack and families, friends and colleagues ofthe victims were gathering at the Church Center, a non-denominational space opposite the UN building to reflect silently or share informally memories, experiences, pictures and recollections. Enditem