Baghdad's Green Zone attacked during Tony Blair visit

Outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose premiership has been dominated by his unpopular decision to join the Iraq war, arrived here on a farewell visit Saturday, and three mortar shells or rockets slammed into the compound where he met with Iraq's leaders.

The attack on Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone wounded one person, said U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor. One round hit the British Embassy compound, security officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

It was not known if Blair was in the embassy at the time, but he appeared to refer to the attack when he held a news conference with Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki and President Jalal Talabani after meeting with them privately.

A fourth projectile exploded just outside the Green Zone.

Blair, who was on his seventh and final visit to Iraq as Britain's prime minister, said he believed security was improving in Iraq, but acknowledged mortar attacks and terrorist attacks were still daily occurrences.

Iraq was liberated from the terrible dictatorship of Saddam (Hussein) and now there are attempts to oppress it in a different ways with terrorism and violence, he said.

Blair said he told Al Maliki and Talabani that Britain would continue to support them after he left office in June, and he urged them to speed up reconciliation between Iraq's divided communities by calling new provincial elections and increasing efforts to bring tribal leaders and others linked to violence into the political process.

Blair appeared irritated at repeated news conference questions about levels of violence, saying Iraqi officials had assured him in talks that there were signs of progress on security.

"There is violence and terrorism in Iraq, but what they are saying is that there is also hope and change", Blair said.

During his 45-minute meeting with Al Maliki, which Talabani joined after it was under way, the British leader injected a sense of urgency into attempts to increase political representation for Sunnis, Blair's spokesman said.

"Blair did not win an agreement from the Iraqi leaders to hold new provincial elections, the spokesman said. We can't speak for them, but we are confident they are moving in the right direction on elections", said the spokesman.

"Blair had hoped provincial elections could take place in 2007 and that Sunni groups, who boycotted the last similar poll, would field candidates", the spokesman said.

He said tribal elders and community leaders who may be connected with people who have committed violence must be engaged with.

Coalition officials have been cautiously optimistic over evidence that some tribal leaders in Anbar province had ousted Al Qaida-linked insurgents hiding in their communities, Blair's spokesman said.

"Britain does not favor talks with foreign terrorists", he said, "but would support moves to bring those whose violence was motivated by concerns about whether their community will have a place in the new Iraq into the political sphere".