Top UN official survives bomb blast after meeting Iraq's Sistani

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Source: CSM/AP

Baghdad

A roadside bomb hit the convoy of the top UN official in Iraq after a meeting with revered Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf Tuesday. UN envoy Ad Melkert was unhurt, but the blast killed an Iraqi policeman and wounded three others.

A UN spokeswoman said the bomb went off as Mr. Melkert’s convoy, accompanied by an Iraqi security detail, headed to the Najaf airport Tuesday afternoon on the outskirts of the city.

“It was after meetings were concluded with Sistani,” she said.

Mr. Melkert, the special representative to the UN secretary general, is one of the few Western officials with whom Ayatollah Sistani meets. The cleric, who does not appear in public, has played an influential role in Iraq. Although he avoids direct involvement in politics, his edicts helped lead to direct elections in 2005 and strong voter turnout, including by women. He has also directed followers not to retaliate following sectarian attacks that have rocked the country.

Read more: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2010/1019/Top-UN-official-survives-bomb-blast-after-meeting-Iraq-s-Sistani

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1. UN envoy in Iraq escapes bombing unharmed

Source: AP

BAGHDAD - The chief U.N. envoy to Iraq escaped unharmed from a bombing that hit his convoy Tuesday after a meeting with the nation's top Shiite cleric about how to unsnarl Iraq's stalemated government. The U.N. said a member of the Iraqi security forces was killed and several others were injured in the attack.

Officials have long worried that the political impasse that has gripped Iraq for more than seven months may lead to violence, and the attack on U.N. Special Representative Ad Melkert underscored those fears.

The U.N. pulled out of Iraq after a 2003 bombing of its Baghdad headquarters killed then-envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 employees and a series of other attacks against aid workers. But the world body returned in 2004 and has stepped up its presence over the years as violence ebbs and the U.S. military begins to leave Iraq.

U.N. spokeswoman Randa Jamal said Melkert had finished meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and was leaving the Shiite holy city of Najaf when his convoy hit a roadside bomb. Nobody in the delegation was injured and Melkert was safely back in Baghdad by Tuesday evening, Jamal said.

Jamal said the U.N. convoy was accompanied by an Iraqi security escort. Iraqi Gen. Othman al-Ghanemi, who oversees military operations in the area, initially said nobody in the convoy was killed or injured.

Read more: http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/world/article/666492--iraq-blasts-kill-policeman-s-baby-nephew-7-others