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U.S., EU, Urge Syria to Drop Nuclear Secrecy

(AP-Guardian-UK) George Jahn - Syria on Thursday denied hiding nuclear activities and said Israel was the source of suspicious uranium particles found at a Syrian desert complex bombed two years ago. The comments came in response to Western demands that Damascus stop stonewalling IAEA attempts to investigate suspicions that Syria ran covert nuclear programs - some with possible weapons applications. Syria's refusal to allow IAEA inspectors into the country for follow-up visits to sites possibly linked to secret nuclear work was the principal theme of Thursday's closed IAEA board meeting in Vienna. A recent IAEA report said for the first time that uranium particles found at a facility destroyed in September 2007 indicate possible covert nuclear activities. The finding lent backing to Western allegations that the site was a nearly completed nuclear reactor that Washington says was of North Korean design and meant to making weapons-grade plutonium. "Over the past two years we have noticed a troubling pattern in Syria's behavior," said chief U.S. delegate Glyn Davies. "The more evidence the agency uncovers that Syria was engaged in serious safeguards violations, the more Syria has tried to actively hinder the agency's investigation."
2010-03-05 08:03:13
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