Syria denies U.S. raid targeted an al Qaeda leader

LONDON (Reuters) - Syria denied Tuesday that a U.S. raid inside its territory had targeted an al Qaeda operative, as alleged by a U.S. official.

"What they are saying is just unjustified. I deny it totally," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem told Reuters.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, who said the raid by U.S. forces inside Syria Sunday was believed to have killed a major al Qaeda operative who had helped smuggle foreign fighters into Iraq.

The United States has refused officially to confirm or deny U.S. involvement in raid, in which residents and Syrian officials say U.S. troops landed by helicopter and killed eight civilians.

The Syrian cabinet decided Tuesday to shut down an American school and an American cultural center in Damascus, the official SANA news agency said.

The U.S. official said Monday that the raid was aimed at Abu Ghadiya, a former lieutenant of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq who was killed in a U.S. air strike in 2006.

"What they are saying is not accurate," said Moualem, who is on a visit to London. "Do you imagine that a man with his three children are terrorists?" he said, referring to one of the people Syria said was killed in the raid.

He said the people killed were innocent civilians, and repeated his accusation that the attack was a "terrorist act" by the United States. "This is a war crime attempt by the United States against Syria," he said.

Syria has said it will ask the United States and Iraq for an investigation into the raid.

Asked if Syria planned any further diplomatic steps, Moualem said: "We are awaiting their response. According to what we will receive, we will decide our options."

Syria says four helicopters attacked the al-Sukkari farm in the Albou Kamal area in eastern Syria, close to the Iraqi border, and that U.S. soldiers stormed a building there.

The Bush administration, which will leave office in January after the U.S. presidential election on November 4, accuses Syria of not doing enough to stem the flow of al Qaeda fighters and other insurgents into Iraq.

Iraq's government denounced the U.S. action Tuesday in an unusual rebuke of Washington.

"The Iraqi government rejects U.S. aircraft bombarding posts inside Syria," spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said.

Monday, Moualem had denounced Iraq's initial description of the raid as targeting insurgents across the border.

Asked for his reaction to the latest Iraqi statement, Moualem said: "I think they start to see the fact(s) and (are) going in the right direction."

(Editing by Kevin Liffey)