Syrians Allegedly Got Hariri's Slovak Bomb via Istanbul

The Slovak secret service is investigating whether some of the explosives used in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri earlier this year came from Slovakia, a spokesman said Tuesday. "We have this information ... and it is at the stage of being investigated," said Vladimir Simko, a spokesman for the Slovak Information Service. The Slovaks had already opened an investigation into the possible purchase before the online publication revealed the possible link, Simko said, but he declined to say how they learned about it. "The 1,000 kilograms (2,205 pounds) of RDX explosive used in the attack were bought from a Slovak company," the report said. "The Syrians bought a large quantity of the explosive through the intermediary of a Syrian businessman close to military intelligence who has an office in Istanbul." Repeated calls to the company were not answered Tuesday.(AP)