Update///2 blasts near Iranian embassy

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Two blasts occurred on Sunday morning near the Iranian embassy headquarters in central Baghdad, a source from the nearby U.S. embassy said. “Two explosions, probably two car bombs, occurred near the Iranian embassy in Baghdad, prompting the nearby U.S. embassy to announce a state of emergency as sirens wailed and the staff ran to hideouts lest other explosions should take place,” the source, who preferred not to be named, told IraqiNews.com news agency. IraqiNews.com correspondent said the two successive blasts occurred close to the Iranian embassy, possibly leaving casualties. A series of coordinated attacks struck key government organizations, one of them near the green zone on August 19, leaving more than 100 people killed and more than one thousand others wounded. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki later on sent a message to the UN Secretary General and the UN Security Council demanding the “formation of an international panel to investigate the assaults”. The central Baghdad’s heavily-fortified zone is home to the Iraqi government offices, the headquarters of the Iraqi parliament and the U.S. embassy compound and the British embassy. AmR (S) 1