'Terror states' hit back at US report

Libyans take to the streets in anti-US protest

Two of the states accused in a US report of involvement in terrorism have hit back by accusing Washington itself of responsibility for terrorist acts.

Iran and Libya as well as Iraq, North Korea, Cuba, Sudan, Libya and Syria were cited in the State Department's annual review of terrorism, released earlier this week.

Iranians send Stars and Stripes to blazes

But a senior Libyan foreign ministry official rejected the accusations, saying Tripoli had been on the receiving end of "numerous attempted aggressions and assassinations" at the hands of the US.

And the Iranian foreign ministry said US involvement in "Israeli state terrorism" showed it was in no position to judge others.

The Libyan official spoke of "organised state terrorism" against it by the US and its Nato allies in 1986, for example air raids on Tripoli and Benghazi, which, Libya said at the time, killed 31 people, including the adopted daughter of Colonel Gaddafi.

We are honoured and proud when America says that Libya supports the cause of the Palestinian people

Libyan official

Washington was also involved in "diabolical and unprecedented political intervention and pressure" to influence the outcome of the Lockerbie case, Libya's JANA news agency quoted the official as saying.

In January a Libyan man, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering 270 people in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988.

The official said the US had failed to give Libya credit for diplomatic successes.

"The only excuse the US State Department used to justify its false allegations against the Great Jamahiriyah is the successful efforts made by the World Gaddafi Foundation to secure the release of hostages in the Philippines," he said.

"Instead of praising those humanitarian efforts, the US State Department got confused and did not know what to say apart from failing to give credit to those who deserve it.

The Great Jamahiriyah's stance towards terrorism is principled and clear

"We are honoured and proud when America says that Libya supports the cause of the Palestinian people. America knows full well that all the peoples and countries of the world support the just cause of the Palestinian people, who are confronted with aggression and usurpation.

"If this is an accusation, then America will have to include the United Nations and all the countries of the world in its lists."

Libya had also been involved in efforts to rescue UN soldiers held hostage in Sierra Leone and in moves to secure peace in Sudan and the Great Lakes region of Africa.

"The Great Jamahiriyah's stance towards terrorism is principled and clear and for many years, it continuously called on the world to take a united stance against it," the official said.

Israel accused

In Tehran, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry said the US report "lacks credibility and acceptance as far as the international community and Iran are concerned".

The US government, which itself is one of the supporters of Israeli state terrorism, is not in any position to judge others

Iranian official

"The US government, which itself is one of the supporters of Israeli state terrorism, is not in any position to judge others and should abandon its unconditional support for the Zionist regime," Hamid Reza Asefi was quoted as saying by the Iranian news agency IRNA.

"It is necessary that the US, instead of having a wrong conception of the struggles of the Palestinian people which have been ignored for the past half century, try to rectify its behaviour in international relations," Mr Asefi said.

The English-language daily Tehran Times said the "trite and worn-out allegation of supporting international terrorism" was made by the US "to undermine the resistance of independent countries against its hegemonic policies".

It went on: "The fact is that the governments on the US list, unlike some other countries, have refused to dance to the Washington's tune and turned down the US dictates."

Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.