US missile hits bus in Syria, killing five

March 24 2003 at 11:41AM

Damascus, Syria - A US missile hit a Syrian passenger bus near the Iraqi border, killing five and injuring 10, Syria's official news agency reported Monday.

No US military comment was immediately available.

The agency reported that the air-to-surface missile hit the bus on Sunday morning on the Iraqi side of the border.

The bus was carrying Syrians fleeing the war in Iraq, the agency said.

A spokesperson for the US Central Command said US forces do not target civilians, and that their targeting is done very carefully, using precision-guided missiles, to select military targets.

The Syrian agency said the wounded were taken to a Syrian hospital on the Syrian-Iraqi border, while the dead were sent to a hospital on the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus.

Syria, which strongly opposes the US-led war on Iraq, has repeatedly called for a peaceful solution of the Iraq-US dispute over Baghdad's weapons arsenal. - Sapa-AP