UNITED NATIONS, March 30: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday announced a series of unprecedented disciplinary measures including firing of a top security official.

The measures came following the release of a critical report by the Security in Iraq Accountability Panel that identified institutional and individual failures in assessing the security situation in Baghdad prior to the last August terror attack that destroyed the UN offices at the Canal Hotel, killing 22 people, including Mr Annan's top envoy, Sergio Vieira de Mello, and injuring more than 100 others. A second, smaller attack in September prompted the secretary-general to eventually withdraw all international UN personnel.

Mr Annan chastised his highly respected deputy, Louise Frechette, who chaired the Steering Group on Iraq (SGI) when the United Nations decided last May that UN staff could go back into the country after the US-led war.

The SGI - a high-level body composed of senior UN officials and heads of UN entities operating in Iraq- had recommended the return.