A South African man was among the dead at the Shaheen hotel in Baghdad, according to employees of the three-story building in the city's Karadah district.

The attack occurred as a two-member UN team arrived in Baghdad to assess security for an electoral team. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said Tuesday he would send the electoral team if the United States can guarantee its safety.

If it comes, the team will try to determine whether Iraq is safe enough and adequately equipped to hold early elections, an issue at the core of a dispute between the US-led coalition administration and Iraq's majority Shiites over forming a new government.

The United States has cited the ongoing violence in arguing against demands by Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani for directly electing a provisional legislature, which in turn will select a government to take power by July 1.

Instead, Washington wants the lawmakers chosen in 18 regional caucuses.

Annan said he believes the United Nations can play "a constructive role" in helping to break the impasse and finding alternatives for choosing a new Iraqi leadership.

Shiite Muslim leaders have said al-Sistani wants to hear alternatives to the caucus plan if the UN team says it's not feasible to hold elections by the end of June.

However, the UN mission has been clouded by the continuing violence, much of it blamed on insurgents loyal to Saddam Hussein.

The blast Wednesday occurred in front of the hotel in the upscale Baghdad neighborhood of Karadah. In addition to the four dead, at least 17 people were reported injured.

Parts of the hotel's concrete walls were blown away, leaving gaping holes and destroying the interior. Walls that remained were blackened.

Two other buildings nearby were badly damaged -- one housing policemen assigned to protect embassies in the area, and the other a company that sells fire extinguishers.