A day after naming four more high-level suspects, the UN inquiry into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri announced Thursday it would seek an extension of its three-month mandate to complete its work.

The head of the UN International Independent Investigation Commission, Detlev Mehlis, told the press in Beirut the inquiry had made progress on several fronts but the case was not closed, a UN spokesperson said in New York.

The commission was set up by the Security Council in early April to probe the February bomb attack which killed Hariri and 20 others, after an initial UN fact-finding mission found Lebanon's own probe seriously flawed and declared Syria primarily responsible for the political tension preceding the assassination.

The panel was given an initial mandate of three months from the date of starting its work in June, but UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan can extend it for a further period not exceeding three months.

On Wednesday, the panel named three former heads of Lebanese intelligence and security agencies and a former member of parliament as suspects. They were interviewed and their homes were searched. A fifth man, a general who was previously declared a suspect, was summoned for a second interview.

Hariri's assassination led to renewed calls for the withdrawal of all Syrian troops and intelligence agents who had been in Lebanon since the early stages of the country's 1975-1990 civil war. Syria withdrew its troops in April.

Source: Xinhua