Baghdad rocket blast shakes up U.N. chief

An exploding rocket narrowly missed a building in the heavily protected Green Zone where U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was appearing on live television Thursday afternoon with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, startling the U.N. leader on his first visit to Iraq in his new position.

The rocket struck as Ban finished answering a question at a news conference about whether the United Nations might reestablish full operations here. The Associated Press reported it landed about 50 yards from the building where the conference was taking place.

“We would like to increase the number of the U.N. offices in Iraq,” Ban had said, adding that he would consider reopening an office here as “the situation on the ground” improves.

As if on cue, the explosion struck. No one was injured, but Ban appeared shaken. He ducked, and a look of shock came over his face. Maliki and Ban took one more question and then concluded the session.

The U.N. curtailed its presence in Iraq after a car bomb leveled its Baghdad headquarters in 2003, killing 22 people, including the U.N.’s top envoy here, Sergio Vieira de Mello. The U.N. now conducts most of its Iraq operations from Jordan.

The U.S. military announced Thursday that it had captured several members of a group responsible for a brazen January attack in Karbala in which four American soldiers were kidnapped and later killed. Those arrested included a top aide to anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr. U.S. forces also announced the discovery of a car bomb factory in Baghdad and the arrest of an Al Qaeda in Iraq operative said to be running it.

Elsewhere in Baghdad, police said they found the bodies of 25 men shot to death. A roadside bomb and a car bomb killed one and injured three in the Amiriya neighborhood.

And gunmen opened fire on a minibus as it passed through the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Dora, killing a passenger and injuring two.

christian.berthelsen

@latimes.com

Times staff writers Saif Hameed and Zeena Kareem contributed to this report.