U.N. official heads to Iraq after Baghdad bombings

A U.S. soldier uses a metal detector to search an Iraqi woman as she waits for her son before his release in Doura District council in southern Baghdad October 27, 2009.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday he was sending a senior official from the world body to Iraq soon to discuss a series of recent deadly bombings in Baghdad.

Earlier this week Iraq renewed a previous request for a U.N. inquiry into the support given by foreign countries to insurgents after twin suicide blasts against government buildings in Baghdad on Sunday killed more than 150 people.

"In response to a request from the government of Iraq, I will send (U.N.) assistant secretary-general Oscar Fernandez-Taranco to Iraq for preliminary consultations related to Iraq's security and sovereignty," Ban told reporters.

He made clear that Fernandez-Taranco would not be launching an investigation. For a formal probe Ban said he would need "a clear mandate by the Security Council."

Iraq has blamed Sunday's attack against the Justice Ministry and the Baghdad provincial governorate, and bombings on August 19 that devastated the Foreign and Finance Ministries, on al Qaeda and supporters of Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party.

The government has accused neighboring Syria of providing a safe haven for Baathists plotting attacks.

Asked if Fernandez-Taranco would visit Syria, Ban said the world body would discuss the possibility of expanding the issue beyond the border of Iraq later with countries in the region.

After the August 19 bombings Iraq asked Ban to request that the U.N. Security Council set up an independent international commission of inquiry to look into the attacks. Ban forwarded the Iraqi letter to the council but got no response.

The Iraqi request is similar to one that Lebanon put to the Security Council following the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. The council launched an investigation and set up a tribunal in the Netherlands, but no one has so far been indicted and inquiries continue.

Washington has said it would support a U.N. inquiry.

(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)