BAGHDAD, March 22 (Xinhua) -- A huge explosion was heard when the joint news conference of visiting UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was ongoing in Baghdad on Thursday.

    At the joint news conference following the talks between Ban Ki-moon and al-Maliki, a huge explosion was heard clearly.

    A obvious shock occurred on the footage of the live broadcast of the news conference, according to the pan-Arab satellite television al-Jazeera.

    In the wake of the explosion, the news conference was hastily ended after about only two questions.

    Ban arrived Baghdad on Thursday morning for his first visit to Iraq after he took over Kofi Annan as the UN chief. He was expected to spend only one day here to have talks with al-Maliki.