'Questions arise as to whether the RUC, Garda Síochána and the army's Force Research Unit had prior and/or subsequent intelligence about the bombings. These questions in turn lead to concerns about whether these attacks could have been prevented and why no one has been brought to justice.'

Although British Irish Rights Watch has made no reference to the identities of the informers they allege were involved in the 'human bomb' plot, the group's intervention in the controversy is a significant development.

The group has issued several detailed reports previously outlining cases of collusion between loyalist terrorists and the security forces. These include the Pat Finucane murder and the killing of Raymond McCord Jr by the Ulster Volunteer Force. In both cases, British Irish Rights Watch claim many of the loyalists involved in these murders were agents for the security forces - allegations that were later substantiated.

Speaking from a secret location in Europe this weekend, Ingram (not his real name) said that while the latest report was not decisive proof over his claims about 'J1118', it raised questions about the role of informers in the 'human bomb' killings.

'This report from a very credible source brings up the question of informers working at the top tier of the IRA who were allowed to commit crimes up to murder while working for the state. 'I stand by what I have said in the past about "J118" and challenge anyone to debate it with me in a public forum.'

Ingram, a former NCO with the army's highly secretive Force Research Unit, said he was prepared to expose his own identity in public in any such debate.

In addition, soldiers in IDF artillery units testified that the army used phosphorous shells during the war, widely forbidden by international law. According to their claims, the vast majority of said explosive ordinance was fired in the final 10 days of the war.

The rocket unit commander stated that Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) platforms were heavily used in spite of the fact that they were known to be highly inaccurate.

MLRS is a track or tire carried mobile rocket launching platform, capable of firing a very high volume of mostly unguided munitions. The basic rocket fired by the platform is unguided and imprecise, with a range of about 32 kilometers. The rockets are designed to burst into sub-munitions at a planned altitude in order to blanket enemy army and personnel on the ground with smaller explosive rounds.

The use of such weaponry is controversial mainly due to its inaccuracy and ability to wreak great havoc against indeterminate targets over large areas of territory, with a margin of error of as much as 1,200 meters from the intended target to the area hit.

The cluster rounds which don't detonate on impact, believed by the United Nations to be around 40% of those fired by the IDF in Lebanon, remain on the ground as unexploded munitions, effectively littering the landscape with thousands of land mines which will continue to claim victims long after the war has ended.

Because of their high level of failure to detonate, it is believed that there are around 500,000 unexploded munitions on the ground in Lebanon. To date 12 Lebanese civilians have been killed by these mines since the end of the war.

According to the commander, in order to compensate for the inaccuracy of the rockets and the inability to strike individual targets precisely, units would "flood" the battlefield with munitions, accounting for the littered and explosive landscape of post-war Lebanon.

When his reserve duty came to a close, the commander in question sent a letter to Defense Minister Amir Peretz outlining the use of cluster munitions, a letter which has remained unanswered.

'Excessive injury and unnecessary suffering'

It has come to light that IDF soldiers fired phosphorous rounds in order to cause fires in Lebanon. An artillery commander has admitted to seeing trucks loaded with phosphorous rounds on their way to artillery crews in the north of Israel.

A direct hit from a phosphorous shell typically causes severe burns and a slow, painful death.

International law forbids the use of weapons that cause "excessive injury and unnecessary suffering", and many experts are of the opinion that phosphorous rounds fall directly in that category.

The International Red Cross has determined that international law forbids the use of phosphorous and other types of flammable rounds against personnel, both civilian and military.

IDF: No violation of international law

In response, the IDF Spokesman's Office stated that "International law does not include a sweeping prohibition of the use of cluster bombs. The convention on conventional weaponry does not declare a prohibition on [phosphorous weapons], rather, on principles regulating the use of such weapons.

"For understandable operational reasons, the IDF does not respond to [accounts of] details of weaponry in its possession.

"The IDF makes use only of methods and weaponry which are permissible under international law. Artillery fire in general, including MLRS fire, were used in response solely to firing on the state of Israel."

The Defense Minister's office said it had not received messages regarding cluster bomb fire.

"He is a dog and if we see him we will kill him," said a group of young boys wrapped in the flags of Hizbullah and Amal, Lebanon's two main Shia parties. "We want to kill him, really we do," one of them insisted.

The gathering was largely of leftwing groups and Shia parties but there was also a showing from two of Lebanon's largest Christian groups.

Most demonstrators viewed Mr Blair's visit as an attempt to score points at home.

"They hate him in his country and we hate him here - he only came to make himself look good," said Hussein, 29.

Mazen Bassoun, 21, a student organiser from Beirut's southern suburbs, said Mr Blair's policy in the region had been a failure since his first day in office. "The Middle East has been in crisis for more than 50 years. Blair has been the British leader for 10 years and he has done nothing but follow George Bush. Now at the end of his career he is trying to solve the problems of the region with three days of publicity. I don't think he is really taking any measures to stop the violence - it's just a media show for the British people."

Many of the demonstrators were students who had come despite fears they would be met with repression. "A lot of people didn't come after the government warning last night," said Marwan, 22. "We feared the army might become violent."

Some protesters believe Mr Blair's visit will further polarise the country. "His visit will divide the country. Now some ministers will shake his hand and that will make a lot of the country very angry with them," said Malak, a 23-year-old student.

Much of the protesters' anger was directed at the Lebanese government, which they accused of collaborating with the Israelis by delaying the ceasefire to allow Israeli forces to inflict the maximum amount of damage on Hizbullah. "Our government are collaborators," Malak said. "They are the same as Blair."

There was also anger at Blair for allowing planes carrying weapons to refuel in Britain on their way to Israel. "He only talks with the politicians who steal from the country," said Roula Shar, 18. "He is a terrorist. He helped supply Israel with the bombs that killed our children."

Mr Bassoun said he believed Blair's policies had harmed the security of the British people. "I think by his policies he is inviting terrorism to come to Britain. I don't think any Lebanese person would do this, but there are many people in the Middle East who now want to commit terrorism against Britain."

Eitam's comments came in the wake of a highly controversial weekend visit of Balad MKs Azmi Bishara, Jamal Zahalka and Wasal Taha to Syria. On Sunday, the attorney-general announced that he was opening an investigation against the MKs for violating a 2001 law that bans politicians from visiting enemy states, prompting Bishara to announce that he was "willing to pay the price" for the trip to Syria.

"Arab solidarity cannot be maintained without paying a price," Bishara said Monday to the London-based newspaper Al-Hayat.

Their trip "proves why Israel has to remove Israeli Arabs from our political system," said Eitam.

Several hours after Eitam made the comments, he attended a meeting of the Knesset Interior Committee, where Interior Minister Roni Bar-On reiterated his request that the Foreign Ministry revoke the passports of the Balad MKs.

During that meeting, Bar-On reignited a fight with Arab representatives of the North by repeating his claim that Arab municipalities mismanaged funds and fled responsibility during the war.

Two weeks ago, when Bar-On first made the statement during the committee meeting, the Arab representatives present responded with shouts of "scoundrel" and "racist" and were eventually removed from the room.

On Monday, different representatives attended the meeting but the results were the same. One local municipality leader asked Bar-On about the comments he made, and began shouting: "You scoundrel, you have sold yourself to the state," when Bar-On said that he stood by his comments.

That leader, along with several local leaders from Nahariya, all had to be forcibly removed by security guards and nearly exchanged blows with the guards as they were dragged from the room.
"I'd like to ask who invited these people here," said Eitam after the commotion had died down. "This exactly proves my point. We allow these people into our political system and we allow them into our committees and what do we get but violence and disruption?"

Syrian Interior Bassam Abdel Majid, in a report carried on state run television, said the incident appears to have been a "terrorist attack" aimed at the U.S. Embassy. The Interior Ministry oversees police forces in Syria.

"Investigations are underway to find out more details," Majid told Syrian Television.

There were no American deaths in the attack, according to a Syrian who works at the U.S. Embassy, but a stray bullet injured a Chinese diplomat who was standing on top of the Chinese Embassy building nearby, the official Chinese Xinhua News Agency reported.

The diplomat was taken to hospital for treatment. Both embassies are in the diplomatic district of the Syrian capital.

In Washington, the U.S. State Department confirmed that an attack occurred on the U.S. Embassy, saying the people involved were "unknown assailants" and the incident is over.

"Local authorities have responded and are on the scene," said Kurtis Cooper, a State Department spokesperson.

Television footage of the scene showed a bombed out car.

A witness who spoke on condition on anonymity told the Associated Press that two armed men stopped a car on the street in front of the embassy, got out of the car, shot at the Syrian guards in front of the entrance to the embassy and then blew up the car.

The guards shot back, and security forces in the area moved quickly to the street, said the witness.

The Canadian Embassy is about two kilometres away from the American building. A Canadian official said embassy employees are assessing the situation.

Dr. SÅ‚awomir Kalbarczyk, Chief Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation, said during the international scientific conference "Archeology and Terror" conference that took place in Tallin in Novembre 2005:

It is worth mentioning that the Bykovnia pits did not say their „last world" and may provide still a lot of valuable information, since the Ukrainian authorities plan to carry out further exhumations there. They were to be conducted in August last year, however were postponed til this year. The National Remembrance Institute's prosecutors have been invited in the capacity of observers.

There were found in Bykovnia numerous objects, belonging undoubtedly to the Polish citizens, among others, the uniforms, military caps, "knee-boots", Polish coins (including their issue of 1939), and also the objects manufactured in Poland or in the Western Europe. Unfortunately, all those things were separated from the corpses, so they could not be attributed to any concrete persons. One thing is however of a crucial value - it is a driving license belonging to the person who appears on a partial list of the executed civilians, drawn up by the NKVD (those who were murdered in Ukraine).

Besides, the Ukrainian soil conceals more secrets. In 1997, the Ukrainian authorities carried out exhumations in the neighborhood of the former NKVD prison in Vladimir in Volhynien in order to check information disclosed by the local population on burial of Stalin's regime victims at that place. From death-pits there were excavated the remains of 100 persons, whose skulls had bullet holes in their rear part. With the corpses there were many items of the Polish origin: shoulder boards of the Polish military men and policemen, uniform buttons with the image of the White Eagle, etc.

Just recently, the Institute of National Remembrance has been informed that one of the investigations, conducted by the Military Prosecutor's Office in Ukraine brought to discovery in Kiev of the remains of 270 unidentified Polish officers. In cooperation with the Ukrainian party Poles will do their very best to explain this gloomy atrocity which, supposedly, may have a certain link with the Katyn Crime. Such assumptions are justified as a trace of the prisoners murdered in Ukraine breaks off, among others, in the Kiev prison.

Heads bowed in moments of silence for the 3,000 killed in the attacks on New York and Washington - while the No. 2 al-Qaida leader issued new warnings in a videotape. And dissident voices said the world has traded in civil liberties and other democratic rights in its war on terror.

In Europe, where Islamic terror has struck twice since 9/11, in the Madrid train bombings and the London transit attacks, the silent tributes were tinged with doubts and recriminations.

Even German Chancellor Angela Merkel - an advocate of repairing ties with Washington that were frayed under her predecessor Gerhard Schroeder - had veiled criticism of the United States, saying: "The ends cannot justify the means."

"In the fight against international terror ... respect for human rights, tolerance and respect for other cultures must be the maxim of our actions, along with decisiveness and international cooperation," she said.

The international landscape has changed irreversibly since terrorists hijacked four airliners in 2001, crashing two into the World Trade Center, one into the
Pentagon and another into a Pennsylvania field.

Adding to the global jitters, a senior al-Qaida leader issued a new warning.

"You gave us every legitimacy and every opportunity to continue fighting you," said Ayman al-Zawahri, addressing the United States. "You should worry about your presence in the (Persian) Gulf and the second place you should worry about is Israel."

Another video posted on the Internet by al-Qaida showed previously unseen footage of a smiling
Osama bin Laden and other commanders in a mountain camp apparently planning the Sept. 11 attacks.

Allies in the U.S.-led war on terrorism renewed their resolve Monday to fight fanaticism, while skeptics countered that they can no longer follow a superpower they say has relinquished its right to lead.

"Right after Sept. 11 the world was united with Americans. Their moral leadership was unquestioned," Pawel Zalewski, head of the Polish parliament's foreign relations committee, wrote in the Gazeta Wyborcza. "However, this strong moral authority was abused as a result of the Iraq war."

Exactly five years after its message of solidarity, Le Monde titled its lead editorial "The Mistakes of Bush."

In Caracas, Venezuela, about 200 marchers protested what they called "imperialist terrorism" carried out by the United States since the 9/11 attacks. Demonstrators - many of them supporters of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and some of Arab descent - carried Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian flags. Many criticized the U.S. invasions of Iraq and
Afghanistan.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani wrote
President Bush on behalf of the Iraqi people, expressing condolences to the families of Sept. 11 victims.

"On this sad and memorable day, I would like to reiterate the gratitude of the people of Iraq for the people of America and for your leadership," Talabani wrote. "The people of Iraq will never forget those who helped them in getting rid of the most brutal and terrorist regime of
Saddam Hussein."

New Zealand's Prime Minister Helen Clark joined many when she said: "No, we're not more secure since 9/11."

Clark said more should be done to reach out to moderate states and leaders in the Islamic world to encourage understanding between different peoples, and to help end the sense of alienation and exclusion among some young Muslims that fuels extremism.

In Europe, bells tolled in Rome's city hall square. Bouquets of white roses and yellow carnations were piled in a memorial garden where the names of 67 Britons killed in the New York attacks are inscribed. Relatives tearfully remembered their dead.

"It doesn't get any easier, but our minds are much calmer, and we can think through all the events without being flooded by tears and sadness," said Adrian Bennett, whose 29-year-old son, Oliver, was killed.

At a 38-nation Asia-Europe summit in Helsinki, Finland, leaders stood in silence in a circle. The stock exchanges in Nordic and Baltic countries observed two minutes of silence to honor the victims.

French President Jacques Chirac, in Helsinki, reiterated in a written message to Bush his nation's "friendship" in the fight against terrorism.

A week after the Sept. 11 attacks, Chirac flew over the World Trade Center site - the first foreign leader to pay personal condolences. That solidarity quickly dissipated into rancor in the buildup to the Iraq war, when Chirac led opposition to Bush's plans.

Israel's Haaretz daily expressed disappointment and cynicism in an op-ed piece that said: "This is Sept. 11 five years later: a political tool in the hands of the Bush administration."

In Southeast Asia, U.S. and Philippine troops fighting Islamic extremists in the jungles prayed for peace and safety. Other remembrances took place in Japan, Australia, Finland, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who won the country's first post-Taliban election, expressed the appreciation of the Afghan people to the U.S. for the "sacrifices of your sons and daughters" in rebuilding his country. But in the Afghan capital, many residents said they had not seen much improvement since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban for harboring bin Laden.

Following the Sept. 11 attacks, Musharraf was declared a key ally in the "war on terror."

But Sunil Ram, a former officer in the Canadian Forces who teaches at an American military university, said Musharraf has reneged on a promise to shut down hundreds of extremist religious schools preaching hatred against the West.

Ram says that Pakistan is not willing to purge Taliban supporters from the Pakistani military and intelligence services, despite claims to the contrary.

"Why hasn't he shut down the madrassas [Islamic religious schools]? Why hasn't he sealed the border?"

"Ultimately the situation in Pakistan is feeding the situation in Afghanistan," Ram said.

Musharraf's admission

On a visit to Kabul to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai last week, Musharraf admitted for the first time that the Taliban are using Pakistan as a base.

"There are al-Qaeda and Taliban in both Afghanistan and Pakistan," Musharraf said. "Clearly they are crossing from the Pakistan side and causing bomb blasts in Afghanistan.'"

But Musharraf denied that his government or his intelligence agency support the incursions.

Musharraf said he's put 75,000 troops on the border to stop the flow of arms and recruits, but insists it's impossible to seal the border.

Ram said it's a question of priorities.

"It can be done ... he has a half million troops on the border with Indian Kashmir," he said.

Switched sides

Pakistan was a strong supporter of Afghanistan's former Taliban regime, but switched sides after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Since then, Islamabad has arrested more than 700 al-Qaeda suspects, including some close associates of Osama bin Laden.

Some Afghan and U.S. officials think top al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders like bin Laden are hiding either in Pakistan or near the Pakistan-Afghan border.