“The Secretary-General is repulsed and outraged by the deaths of a large number of children, among other civilians, in the latest suicide bombing today in Baghdad,” said a statement released by Mr. Annan’s spokesman in New York.

“As the Secretary-General has said repeatedly, there can be no justification for the deliberate targeting of civilians – much less children, who are our hope for the future. Nothing will be accomplished by today’s killing of innocents,” the statement said.

In Baghdad, Ashraf Qazi, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq, yesterday co-chaired a roundtable on the reform of that country’s justice system, in which he said that strengthening the rule of law was vital to restoring public order and respect for human rights in Iraq.

Yesterday’s session, convened chiefly to examine the current needs of Iraq’s Justice Ministry, placed a special emphasis on Iraq’s correctional facilities and the juvenile justice system.