UN says 'considerable progress' in Hariri inquiry

UNITED NATIONS, June 10 (Reuters) The U.N. inquiry into the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri reported today''considerable progress'' in its work but did not set out new findings on who was behind the crime.

The report by the commission led by Belgian prosecutor Serge Brammertz said Syrian cooperation, which previously had been faulted by investigators, was now ''generally satisfactory,'' but it added continued cooperation ''remains crucial.'' The commission, in its fourth progress report to the U.N.

Security Council, also said it supported a request by the Lebanese government that the inquiry be extended for up to one more year.

Hariri, an outspoken critic of Syria's decades-long domination of Lebanon, was killed by a huge bomb in broad daylight as his motorcade traveled along a Beirut street on February. 14, 2005.

The attack took place after he accused Syria of meddling in internal Lebanese politics. Mass street protests followed and Lebanese opposition politicians blamed Damascus for his death.

Syria, which dominated Lebanon for three decades, denied any involvement in the killing but agreed shortly afterward to withdraw its troops from Lebanon under international pressure.

The Security Council ordered an outside inquiry into the murder after a U.N. fact-finding mission concluded Lebanon could not conduct a credible probe on its own.

Concerning Hariri's killing, the commission said the investigation's ''fundamental building blocks,'' including the explosion, the carrier of the explosive device and its means of delivery were ''largely understood and provide the basis for investigative progress with regard to those who perpetrated the crime.'' Only additional investigation would ''lead to the strengthening or exclusion of some of the existing case hypotheses,'' the report added.

The Brammertz commission is also looking into 14 other bomb attacks in Lebanon to determine whether they were linked to the Hariri assassination. Its report said the cases ''can be linked in a number of different ways,'' but there was as yet insufficient evidence to allow the perpetrators to be identified and linked.

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