Annan sets up panel to probe UN Baghdad HQ blast that killed 22

UN Secretary-General has decided to set up an independent panel to probe security lapses that allowed the blast at Baghdad HQ in August.

In an effort to reassure his staff, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has decided to set up an independent panel of experts to fix responsibility for the security lapses that led to a truck bomb attack on its Baghdad headquarters in August, killing 22.

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Simultaneously, he also ordered a "strategic reorganization" of security management that would be overseen by Deputy-Secretary-General Lousie Frechette.

Annan announced his decision in a letter sent to the staff in which he also promised to do this "utmost to ensure that such failures are not repeated either in Iraq or elsewhere."

The team to look into the security apparatus being appointed will also review the responsibilities of key individuals for lack of preventive and mitigating actions before the attack on August 19.

Annan's decisions comes in the wake of a highly critical report by an independent panel, which described the security system as "dysfunctional" and criticized the top management for refusing security from the US-led coalition, the only "credible" force in Iraq, without making any alternative arrangements.

The report had also criticized the team of senior officials led by Frechette on Iraq who, it said, failed to perceive the threat. MORE