Security Council and Ban deplore series of deadly car bombings in Baghdad

The Security Council and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned today’s series of apparently coordinated car bombings across Baghdad that have killed or injured scores of residents of the Iraqi capital.

“I am very shocked and I condemn [the bombings] in the strongest terms possible,” Mr. Ban told journalists at United Nations Headquarters in New York. “This is just unacceptable – [a] horrendous terrorist bombing against civilians.”

Media reports suggest at least 120 people have died and more than 440 others are injured as a result of five bombings which occurred within minutes of each other across the city.

Later, in a statement issued by his spokesperson, Mr. Ban offered his condolences to the families of those killed and stressed that “no cause can justify these attacks on civilians. The attacks appear to be aimed at undermining the election process, including the political progress in Iraq.”

At the weekend the Iraqi parliament approved revised electoral laws that had been the subject of prolonged debate, paving the way for national elections to be held in the strife-torn country early next year.

Today Mr. Ban called on Iraqis to “remain steadfast in the face of these attacks and to continue their determined efforts to achieve national reconciliation.”

Speaking on behalf of Security Council members, Ambassador Michel Kafando of Burkina Faso read out a statement to the press in which the 15-member panel also condemned the attacks.

No act of terrorism “can reverse the path towards peace, democracy and reconciliation in Iraq,” Mr. Kafando said, stressing the need for States to work together to combat the threat posed by all forms of terrorism.

Burkina Faso holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council this month.