BAGHDAD - A thunderous explosion struck Baghdad on Wednesday, coinciding with a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney to discuss efforts to reduce the violence in Iraq.
The blast, which occurred about 6:25 p.m., appeared to strike in the vicinity of the heavily fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad, but that could not immediately be confirmed. Witnesses said it appeared to have been fired from the mostly Shiite areas on the east side of the Tigris River.
Cheney's spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride said, "His business was not disrupted. He was not moved."
The U.S. military and the U.S. Embassy said they had no information but were looking into what happened.
Cheney, who arrived earlier Wednesday for an unannounced visit, met with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Cheney's visit drew protests from followers of radical anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who commands a heavily armed militia in Baghdad.
Both leaders acknowledged problems in the pace of reducing violence in Iraq but pledged their governments would continue working together toward a solution.
Al-Maliki is coming under increasing pressure from Washington to demonstrate progress in easing sectarian violence, and Cheney's unannounced visit to Iraq was depicted by U.S. officials as an attempt to press al-Maliki and other Iraqi leaders to do more to achieve reconciliation among factions.
In February, a suicide bomber attacked the main gate of the U.S.-run Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan while Cheney was staying there after having been stranded by a snowstorm. The vice president was rushed to a bomb shelter but was not injured.
The explosion killed 23 people, including two Americans, and delivered a propaganda blow that undercut the U.S. military and the weak Afghan government it supports. U.S. officials believe a Libyan al-Qaida leader, Abu Laith al-Libi, was behind the attack.
Meanwhile, al-Sadr supporters rallied Wednesday in Baghdad and Shiite areas to the south to protest the Cheney visit and demand the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq.
Protesters in Baghdad and the holy city of Najaf chanted "No to the occupation" and "No to America."
In Baghdad's Kazimiyah district, clothing merchant Abbas Abdul-Karim said he joined the rally because Cheney was "one of the planners of destroying our beloved country" and that he could not accept "the visit of this criminal to Iraq."
