(Adds U.N. secretary-general, paragraph 8)

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 14 (Reuters) - The United Nations is setting up an independent panel to investigate a bombing that killed 17 U.N. employees in Algiers on Dec. 11, the world body announced on Monday.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon decided to appoint the panel after receiving a preliminary report last Friday from Undersecretary-General for Safety and Security David Veness, Ban's spokeswoman, Michele Montas, told a news briefing.

She said the team would be asked "to establish all the facts concerning the Algiers attack and also to address ... staff security for the United Nations in its operations around the world."

At least 37 people were killed in two car bombings in Algiers, one of which badly damaged U.N. offices. The Maghreb Al Qaeda group claimed responsibility.

Montas said the panel would group international experts from outside the United Nations, who would be named shortly.

"The panel will seek the full cooperation of the Algerian governmental authorities," she said.

It was not immediately known whom Ban would choose to be on the panel but Montas said its staffing would not require the approval of Algeria.

Ban told reporters that the panel would try to determine "what we can do more to strengthen our measures against all possible attacks against the United Nations."

Last week Ban told a news conference that the United Nations had not received warning at the time indicating U.N. facilities might have been targeted for an attack.

Montas declined comment on media reports quoting the widow of the former head of U.N. security in Algiers, Babacar Ndiaye of Senegal, as saying her husband, who died in the attack, had pleaded with U.N. management to step up security but had been ignored.

She said this issue was among those that the panel would investigate.

The Algiers attack was the worst affecting U.N. staff in recent decades. A car bombing that destroyed the U.N. office in Baghdad in 2003 killed 22 people but seven of those were visitors to the building.

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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