UN chief unhurt in Baghdad blast
A visibly shocked Ban Ki-moon reacts to the mortar explosion
Also In The News
|
England manager Steve McClaren says he has high hopes for the striking partnership of Andy Johnson and Wayne Rooney ahead of the crucial Euro 2008 qualifier with Israel. |  |
Thursday, 22, Mar 2007 08:17
The UN secretary general was left visibly shaken after a televised press conference he was jointly holding with the Iraqi prime minister was interrupted by a nearby rocket explosion.
Ban Ki-moon and Nouri al-Maliki were answering journalists' questions when the mortar detonated some 100m from the central Baghdad Green Zone building they were in at 15:30 local time (12:30 GMT).
The South Korean's immediate reaction was to flinch and duck his head under the microphone stand, while Mr al-Maliki, presumably more used to such occurrences, seemed unmoved.
Neither man appeared hurt by or mentioned the explosion and once the ceiling debris dislodged by the impact of the blast had fallen, Mr Ban continued to take one more press question before ending the conference.
Mr Ban's previously unannounced visit to the Iraqi capital was the first made by a UN secretary general since Kofi Annan in November 2005.
On Mr Annan's request, all UN staff were withdrawn from the troubled Middle Eastern country four years ago when 22 people, including the international organisation's Iraq envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello, were killed in a bomb attack at its Baghdad headquarters.
The present secretary general described today's talks with Mr al-Maliki in the heavily-fortified Green Zone as a "very good meeting".