United Nations: The chief investigator probing the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri said today the case can be solved.

Canadian prosecutor Daniel Bellemare told the UN Security Council his investigation team has uncovered fresh information that may link additional individuals to the network responsible for the February 2005 assassination.

He told the council in April that the International Independent Investigative Commission, which he took over in January, "can now confirm, on the basis of evidence, that a network of individuals acted in concert to carry out the assassination of Rafik Hariri."

Bellemare said today that progress also has been made in identifying the geographical origin of the suicide bomber.

He said additional links have been found between the Hariri killing and some of the 20 other terrorist attacks in which his investigators are providing technical assistance to the Lebanese government. Investigators also found "elements to link one additional attack to the Hariri case," he added.

Nobody has been charged in the assassination of Hariri and 22 others, though four pro-Syrian Lebanese generals have been under arrest for more than three years for alleged involvement in the murders.

The first UN chief investigator, Germany's Detlev Mehlis, has said the plot's complexity suggested that Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services had a role. Syria has denied involvement, but was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, ending a 29-year presence.

Bellemare said he would not provide any further details because "lives are at risk."

Source : PTI