Fallujah, Iraq ? Insurgents launched a bold attack Thursday on an Iraqi civil defense compound in this volatile city just as the commander of all U.S. forces in the Middle East, Gen. John Abizaid, arrived to visit.

Three explosions ripped through an area near the compound and a six-minute gun battle ensued. Abizaid and his party, including another senior Army commander, escaped injury and quickly left.

Although soldiers said insurgent attacks on the compound were common, Thursday’s close call suggested the attackers may have targeted Abizaid, the four-star general who runs the war in Iraq — raising new questions about how much control Americans have in the region.

It also seemed to underscore that much work remains before the Iraqis are ready to handle violence encouraged by former members of Saddam Hussein’s government as well as foreign terrorists. In Thursday’s incident, Iraqis initially refused to go into a mosque to search for the attackers, U.S. officials said.

The violence broke out as a U.N. envoy met with Iraq’s leading Shiite cleric and told him the world was behind his demand for national elections. But there was no sign of agreement on when a vote would occur — the central issue in Shiite opposition to the U.S. plan for handing over power to Iraqis this summer.

The cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, wants elections to create a provisional legislature that can run the country, but the United States says there is not enough time to organize an election before the deadline for transferring power.

The spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan suggested that moving up elections wasn’t likely and the discussions were centered on finding an alternative to U.S. plans for local councils or “caucuses.”