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UN chief in surprise Iraq visit
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has arrived in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on a surprise visit. He is expected to meet Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and other members of the Iraqi government. Mr Annan arrived as the latest car bombing killed least four people and wounded another 19 near a market in south-eastern Baghdad. Iraq's US-backed interim government is battling a mainly Sunni insurgency that has killed thousands of people. Next month will see general elections for a permanent government. The latest attack, in the New Baghdad area, came just days after a suicide bomber killed dozens of people in a crowded restaurant in the capital. Eyewitnesses said the explosion had started fires in several shops in the market, trapping people inside. Eyewitness Ali Saleh told Reuters news agency: "A car parked near a pharmacy suddenly blew up and we saw smoke and people started running. Women were searching for their children. The shrapnel flew everywhere, the force of the blast was so strong." Mr Annan was in Amman on Friday, where he discussed Wednesday's bombings in three hotels in the Jordanian capital, which al-Qaeda in Iraq has claimed. His visit to Iraq follows separate trips by UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in recent days.
Both said they wanted to encourage participation in the parliamentary elections on 15 December.
The UN pulled out of Iraq after a bomb at UN headquarters in Baghdad in August 2003 killed 22 people, including envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello. Posted by: lotp 2005-11-12 |
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