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Some senior clerics blamed the killings on a group linked to Sadr, who has condemned the US occupation and refused to join the council. Sadr’s group denied the accusation.

In Beirut, the Shi’ite Muslim guerrilla group Hizbollah condemned the bomb attack as a ‘‘very serious development’’. ‘‘This incident must be met with harsh condemnation from all religious scholars and the community. And a strong message must be sent to these criminals and whoever is behind them,’’ Hizbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said in a statement.

The US-run Iraqi television reported on Sunday that an Iraqi security guard at the UN headquarters in Baghdad helped attackers launch the suicide bombing there which killed 23 people, including the world body’s top envoy to the country. ‘‘Iraqi official sources confirmed a security agent had given information to the plotters,’’ the Iraq media network television channel said.

The television did not say if the security guard had been arrested. ‘‘He had given them the building layout, including the office of Vieira de Mello,’’ it added. The FBI has begun questioning UN security guards, a UN source said.

Meanwhile, a bomb threat has resulted in the closure of the Jumhuriya bridge in Baghdad, the city’s most important connection over the river Tigris, reports said today. Al-Jazeera reported that public access to the bridge had been blocked following the threat.