United Nations, Sept 23: The United Nations is reviewing its operations in Iraq after the second deadly bombing at its Baghdad headquarters since last month, Secretary General Kofi Annan has said. "We are assessing the situation ... and we will decide as we move forward what our posture should be," Annan told reporters at UN headquarters in New York yesterday.
"Obviously, I am shocked and distressed by this latest attack."
Annan said he has appointed former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari to lead an independent commission studying the safety of UN staff in Iraq.
"The panel's report is expected to give a detailed account on a range of issues, including but not limited to, security relations between the UN and the coalition provisional authority, responsibilities within the UN relating to staff security, both at the headquarters and in the field," UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said.
"The panel will also look forward and identify key lessons for future security management and arrangements, in the view to preventing further such tragedies, or at least limiting their effects."
The panel is expected to complete its work in about six weeks and release its recommendations, Eckhard said.
Eckhard said two UN employees were among those wounded in yesterday's car bomb attack in Baghdad, with most of the rest being Iraqi police officers guarding the building.
Bureau Report