British Prime Minister Tony Blair is greeted by his Iraqi counterpart Nouri Maliki in Baghdad Saturday, May 19, 2007. Blair flew into Baghdad Saturday for a surprise final visit to Iraq as Prime Minister, and was due to have talks with President Jalal Talibani and Premier Nouri Malaki in the capital's heavily fortified Green Zone.

BAGHDAD — Outgoing British leader Tony Blair, whose premiership has been dominated by his unpopular decision to join the 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, arrived in Iraq on Saturday for his seventh — and final — visit as prime minister.

Blair, who was making an unannounced visit before he steps down from office in June, reassured Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and President Jalal Talabani that his departure will not bring an end to Britain's support.

Shortly after Blair arrived in the capital's Green Zone, three mortar rounds or rockets exploded in the heavily fortified compound, wounding one person, said U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said. A fourth projectile exploded just outside the Green Zone.

One round struck the British Embassy compound, according to security officials who spoke 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 al-Maliki and Talabani after meeting with them privately.

Blair said he believed security was improving in Iraq, but acknowledged violence was still a part of life.

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

Blair said he urged al-Maliki and Talibani 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's official spokesman, who briefs reporters only on condition of anonymity, 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, 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, he said.