Syrian men walk past a huge portrait of President Bashar al-Assad in downtown Damascus, 13 December 2005. The United States said on Wednesday that it supported Lebanon's call for a broader UN investigation into the killing of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. (Photo: AFP)

    WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- The United States said on Wednesday that it supported Lebanon's call for a broader UN investigation into the killing of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.

    The United States thinks it "very important" that the UN Security Council extends the mandate of this investigation, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at a briefing.

    "We certainly support the Lebanese government in making that request," McCormack said, noting that the Lebanese government had requested the UN Security Council to expand the investigation.

    Detlev Mehlis, the head the UN investigation, has accused Syriaof burning documents and intimidating witnesses relating to Hariri's assassination. The investigation has implicated senior Syrian officials in Hariri's assassination.

    "I would expect the Security Council would want to take a look at what further measure might be required and allowed," McCormack said. Enditem

A Lebanese man shouts for help for a wounded man near the site of a car bomb explosion in Beirut February 14, 2005. A massive car bomb killed Lebanon's former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri on Beirut's waterfront on Tuesday, witnesses and security sources said. At least eight others, some of them his bodyguards, also died. (Photo: Reuters)