BAGHDAD, Iraq -- U.N. chief Kofi Annan called Saturday for national reconciliation in Iraq during a surprise visit, arriving just as a car bomb exploded near a street market in a Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad and killed eight weekend shoppers.
Also Saturday, conflicting Web site statements appeared about the reported death of Saddam Hussein's chief lieutenant, the man accused by the United States of playing a key role in organizing Iraq's insurgency. One Web site believed to be the voice of the banned Baath Party reported Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri was dead, but another said he was alive and apologized for the death report.
Saturday's trip to Iraq was Annan's first since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and the third by a high-level international official in as many days. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Friday and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw the day before.
All three encouraged disaffected Sunni Arabs, who form the core of the insurgency, to participate in next month's parliamentary elections. A major Sunni Arab party called Saturday for an end to U.S. and Iraqi military operations in heavily Sunni Anbar province, saying they threaten Sunni participation in the Dec. 15 election.
The U.N. leader also endorsed Arab League efforts to organize a conference bringing together Iraq's varied groups to heal the nation's divisions.
Annan called for a political transition that is "inclusive, transparent and takes into account concerns of all groups."
However, the leader of the biggest Shiite party, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, told Annan he was not interested in a conference that included Saddam loyalists, members of the former regime and Sunni religious fanatics believed responsible for suicide attacks against civilians.
That stance, echoed by other Iraqi Shiite officials, would appear to rule out participation by most of those fighting the U.S.-led coalition and its Iraqi allies.
Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, also a Shiite, said he told Annan that Iraqi authorities want U.N. help in the Dec. 15 election, promoting democracy and in "improving the performance of Iraqi security forces."
Iraq's Shiites and Kurds have been suspicious of the Arab League, fearing it would favor the Sunni Arabs. Most Arab countries are majority Sunni, although Shiites form about 60 percent of Iraq's estimated 27 million people.
Annan referred to the need to curb ongoing violence _ both in Iraq and neighboring Jordan, where suicide bombings Wednesday killed at least 57 people in three hotels in the capital of Amman. The al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist group, which has carried out scores of attacks in Iraq, claimed responsibility for the Jordan bombings.
"Even those who are at a distance feel the pain and the misery that is being inflicted on families and innocent civilians," Annan said.
