Clinton: Facebook post about Benghazi attack not hard "evidence"

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday a Facebook post in which an Islamic militant group claimed credit for a recent attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya did not constitute hard evidence of who was responsible.

"Posting something on Facebook is not in and of itself evidence. I think it just underscores how fluid the reporting was at the time and continued for some time to be," Clinton said during an appearance with the Brazilian foreign minister at the State Department.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that an official email showed officials at the White House and State Department were advised two hours after attackers assaulted the U.S. diplomatic mission on September 11 that an Islamic militant group had claimed credit.

The email, obtained by Reuters from government sources not connected with U.S. spy agencies or the State Department and who requested anonymity, specifically mentioned that the Libyan group called Ansar al-Sharia had asserted responsibility for the attacks.

That and two other emails also made available showed how U.S. diplomats described the attack, even as it was still under way, to Washington.

Clinton, responding to a reporter's question about the emails, noted that a State Department investigation was under way.

"The independent accountability review board is already hard at work looking at everything, not cherry picking one story here or one document there, but looking at everything - which I highly recommend as the appropriate approach for something as complex as an attack like this," she said.

"We will find out what happened. We will take whatever measures are necessary to fix anything that needs to be fixed and we will bring those to justice who committed these murders."

White House spokesman Jay Carney, asked about the emails, noted that Ansar al-Sharia had later denied responsibility for the attack.

"This was an open-source, unclassified email about a posting on a Facebook site. I would also note I think that within a few hours, that organization itself claimed that it had not been responsible. Neither should be taken as fact -- that's why there's an investigation under way," he told reporters traveling with President Barack Obama aboard Air Force One to Iowa.

U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the Benghazi assault, which Obama and other U.S. officials ultimately acknowledged was a "terrorist" attack carried out by militants with suspected links to al Qaeda affiliates or sympathizers.

Administration spokesmen, including Carney, citing an unclassified assessment prepared by the CIA, maintained for days that the attacks likely were a spontaneous protest against an anti-Muslim film.

While officials did mention the possible involvement of "extremists," they did not lay blame on any specific militant groups or possible links to al Qaeda or its affiliates until intelligence officials publicly alleged that on September 28.

There were indications that extremists with possible al Qaeda connections were involved, but also evidence that the attacks could have erupted spontaneously, they said, adding that government experts were cautious about pointing fingers prematurely.

U.S. intelligence officials have emphasized since shortly after the attack that early intelligence reporting about the attack was mixed.

MISSIVES FROM LIBYA

The records obtained by Reuters consist of three emails dispatched by the State Department's Operations Center to multiple government offices, including addresses at the White House, Pentagon, intelligence community and FBI, on the afternoon of September 11.

The first email, timed at 4:05 p.m. Washington time - or 10:05 p.m. Benghazi time, 20-30 minutes after the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission allegedly began - carried the subject line "U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi Under Attack" and the notation "SBU", meaning "Sensitive But Unclassified."

The text said the State Department's regional security office had reported that the diplomatic mission in Benghazi was under attack. "Embassy in Tripoli reports approximately 20 armed people fired shots; explosions have been heard as well," it said.

The message continued: "Ambassador Stevens, who is currently in Benghazi, and four ... personnel are in the compound safe haven. The 17th of February militia is providing security support."

A second email, headed "Update 1: U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi" and timed 4:54 p.m. Washington time, said that the Embassy in Tripoli had reported that "the firing at the U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi had stopped and the compound had been cleared." It said a "response team" was at the site attempting to locate missing personnel.

A third email, also marked SBU and sent at 6:07 p.m. Washington time, carried the subject line: "Update 2: Ansar al-Sharia Claims Responsibility for Benghazi Attack."

The message reported: "Embassy Tripoli reports the group claimed responsibility on Facebook and Twitter and has called for an attack on Embassy Tripoli."

While some information identifying recipients of this message was redacted from copies of the messages obtained by Reuters, a government source said that one of the addresses to which the message was sent was the White House Situation Room, the president's secure command post.

Other addressees included intelligence and military units as well as one used by the FBI command center, the source said.

It was not known what other messages were received by agencies in Washington from Libya that day about who might have been behind the attacks.

Intelligence experts caution that initial reports from the scene of any attack or disaster are often inaccurate.

By the morning of September 12, the day after the Benghazi attack, Reuters reported that there were indications that members of both Ansar al-Sharia, a militia based in the Benghazi area, and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the North African affiliate of al Qaeda's faltering central command, may have been involved in organizing the attacks.

One U.S. intelligence official said that during the first classified briefing about Benghazi given to members of Congress, officials "carefully laid out the full range of sparsely available information, relying on the best analysis available at the time."

The official added, however, that the initial analysis of the attack that was presented to legislators was mixed.

"Briefers said extremists were involved in attacks that appeared spontaneous, there may have been a variety of motivating factors, and possible links to groups such as (al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Ansar al-Sharia) were being looked at closely," the official said.

(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell and Andrew Quinn; Editing by Mary Milliken and David Storey)

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Syria government indicates accepts holiday truce: Russia

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has indicated to Russia that it will accept U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi's proposal for a Muslim holiday ceasefire in Syria, Moscow's U.N. envoy said on Wednesday.

"We have had indications that they (Syria's government) are accepting the proposal of Mr. Brahimi," Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters after a closed-door meeting of the 15-nation Security Council during which Brahimi briefed council members via video link from Egypt.

Brahimi told council members that a final announcement Of a ceasefire with rebels was expected Thursday. Churkin seemed to confirm remarks Brahimi made earlier on Wednesday in Cairo, when he said the government had indicated its acceptance of the proposed truce.

The council issued a statement after the meeting supporting the ceasefire, which would begin on Friday and last for several days at least during the Islamic holiday Eid al-Adha, and urging "all regional and international actors to use their influence" to ensure the truce is implemented.

"The members of the Council agreed that an Eid al-Adha ceasefire could be a first step towards a sustainable cessation of all violence," the council said.

After Brahimi spoke to the press in Egypt, the Syrian government appeared to contradict him, saying that its military command was still studying the truce proposal.

"The answer will be announced tomorrow officially speaking," Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari told reporters. "We have always been part of the solution, not part of the problem."

British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said Brahimi also contacted the opposition to persuade rebels to accept a temporary truce in the 19-month-old conflict that the United Nations says has killed around 30,000 people.

"He had been in touch with various parts of the opposition," Lyall Grant told reporters. "Certainly the Free Syrian Army and other parts of the opposition had indicated that they were prepared to respond if the government took the first step in initiating the ceasefire over the Eid period."

On the way into the council meeting, Churkin said Moscow hoped Brahimi's plan would be successful.

"We support it very strongly," Churkin said. "We worked very hard in support of Mr. Brahimi in making sure there is a chance that might happen."

Chinese Ambassador Li Baodong echoed Churkin's views.

"Hopefully we will see the truce, and also we want to see a sustainable ... cessation of all violence," Li told reporters after the council session.

The United States and European council members blame Russia, a staunch ally and key arms supplier for Assad's government, and China for the council's deadlock on the 19-month-long conflict. Moscow and Beijing have vetoed three resolutions condemning Assad and reject the idea of sanctioning his government.

U.S. BOOSTS 'NON-LETHAL' AID TO REBELS

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington also would like to see an end to the violence.

"And we'd like to see a political transition take hold and begin," she told reporters in Washington in an appearance with the visiting Brazilian foreign minister. "We've been calling for that for more than a year."

She said the United States was increasing its non-lethal support for the Syrian opposition, including working with local councils inside Syria. She said Washington also was working with its friends and allies to promote more cohesion among the disparate Syrian opposition groups with the aim of producing a new leadership council following meetings scheduled for Doha in the next several weeks.

One envoy said Brahimi also told the Security Council that he needs its "strong and unanimous support."

"Another failure would lead to extreme escalation and spillover to other countries," the diplomat, who was inside the meeting, paraphrased Brahimi as saying.

U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay also emphasized the need for the council to overcome its impasse on Syria in an address to the 193-nation General Assembly.

"While taking into account important political concerns, it is urgent to find ways to avert the massive loss of civilians and human rights violations," Pillay said.

"International law obliges states to protect their people, and where a state manifestly fails to carry out this obligation, then the international community needs to take urgent and effective measures to protect the Syrian people," she said.

Russia and China have repeatedly said they refuse to condone outside military intervention in Syria such as the NATO operation to protect civilians in Libya last year that led to the overthrow of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his death at the hands of rebels who fought to oust him.

Brahimi told the council there was no longer a single safe place for Syrian civilians in the country and that the army continued to shell indiscriminately, diplomats said. He also spoke of a disregard for humanitarian law and human rights on both sides.

"Executions, kidnapping and arbitrary detentions (by the government) continue," a diplomat cited Brahimi as saying.

(Additional reporting by Andrew Quinn in Washington; Editing by Vicki Allen and Jackie Frank)

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Sudan blames Israeli air strike hit for munitions plant blasts

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan said on Wednesday that an Israeli air strike had caused the huge explosion and fire at an arms factory in Khartoum that killed two people, but Israel's defense minister declined to comment.

Sudan, which analysts say is used as an arms-smuggling route to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip via neighboring Egypt, has blamed Israel for such strikes in the past, but Israel has either refused to comment or said it neither admitted or denied involvement.

Asked by Israel's Channel Two News about Sudan's accusations, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said: "There is nothing I can say about this subject."

A huge fire broke out late on Tuesday at the Yarmouk arms factory in the south of the capital which was rocked by several explosions, witnesses said. Firefighters took more than two hours to extinguish the fire at Sudan's main factory for ammunition and small arms.

"Four military planes attacked the Yarmouk plant ... We believe that Israel is behind it," Information Minister Ahmed Belal Osman told reporters, adding that the planes appeared to approach the site from the east.

"Sudan reserves the right to strike back at Israel," he said, adding that two citizens had been killed and the plant had been partially destroyed. Another person was seriously injured, he said.

Around 300 people gathered at the courtyard of a government building where the Sudanese cabinet was in an emergency meeting, shouting "Death to Israel" and "Remove Israel from the map."

"Israel is a country of injustice that needs to be deterred," Vice President Ali Osman Taha, standing next to President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, told the crowd. "This attack only strengthens our firmness."

The governor of Khartoum state initially had ruled out any "external" cause for the blast but officials later showed journalists a video from the vast site. A huge crater could be seen next to two destroyed buildings and what appeared to be a rocket lying on the ground.

Osman said an analysis of rocket debris and other material had shown that the attack was engineered by Israel, which Sudan views as an enemy.

Sudan's U.N. Ambassador Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman called on the U.N. Security Council to condemn the attack "because it is a blatant violation of the concept of peace and security."

"It jeopardizes peace and security in the entire region, not just in Sudan," he told the council during a briefing on U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur. "We call on you to stop foreign hands from meddling in the Darfur conflict and to help Sudan arrive at a final solution that would maintain peace and security."

NOT FIRST ACCUSATION

Several residents living near the factory told Reuters they had heard planes or missiles before there was a huge explosion.

"I heard a sound like a plane or missile and then the sky was lit up and a huge explosion occurred," a resident who declined to be identified said. "There was a big fire and several subsequent explosions."

Two other residents said buildings near the plant had suffered minor damage.

Soldiers blocked access to the gated plant where the main buildings are located away from the main street, making it difficult to assess the damage when a Reuters reporter visited the area after the midnight blast and on Wednesday morning.

In May, Sudan's government said one person had been killed after a car exploded in the eastern city of Port Sudan. It said the explosion resembled a blast last year that it had blamed on an Israeli missile strike.

Israel declined to comment on the May incident or the 2011 blast, which killed two people and neither admitted nor denied involvement in a similar incident in eastern Sudan in 2009.

The information minister declined to say whether any weapons from Yarmouk had ended up in Gaza, saying that only "traditional weapons in line with international law" were produced there.

Major damage to the Yarmouk plant would be a blow to Sudan's army in its battle against insurgencies in the western region of Darfur and the southern states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile, bordering arch-rival South Sudan.

In 1998, the United States fired missiles at the El Shifa medicine factory in Khartoum. U.S. officials said it was producing chemical weapons ingredients and was partly owned by Osama bin Laden, who once lived in Khartoum. Sudan insisted the plant made only pharmaceuticals.

The attack followed the bombings of U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Sudan's neighbor Kenya, which killed at least 226 people, including 12 Americans. The attacks were blamed on al Qaeda.

(Additional reporting by Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem and Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; Writing by Edmund Blair and Ulf Laessing; Editing by Michael Roddy; desking by Christopher Wilson)

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African Union reinstates Mali ahead of military action

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The African Union (AU) lifted Mali's suspension from the bloc on Wednesday, saying an African plan to intervene militarily to help the country claw back territory from Islamist militants would be ready within weeks.

The pan-African body also laid out a political road map which foresees elections in the beleaguered West African country by April even as it is still grappling with the fallout from a coup in March this year.

Armed Islamist groups control the northern two-thirds of Mali and have stirred global outrage by meting out executions and desecrating ancient religious sites under their own strict interpretation of sharia law. The United Nations says they have systematically violated human rights, particularly of women.

Mali's Foreign Minister Tieman Hubert Coulibaly told state-owned television late on Wednesday that he was "happy and satisfied" with the lifting of the suspension.

He said it was the result of Mali's "respect of signed agreements and the creation of a government of national union conforming to the demands of the international community."

It was not immediately clear, however, whether Mali had agreed to the AU's poll deadline. The government in Bamako does not have a seat at the AU's Peace and Security Council (PSC), which is comprised of a rotating body of members.

Nor was it clearly stated whether the vote would come before or after any military intervention against rebels in the north of the country where Bamako now has no control.

"We are working ... to finalize the joint planning for the early deployment of an African-led international military force to help Mali recover the occupied territories in the North," Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, chairwoman of the AU Commission, told ministers at the opening of Wednesday's PSC meeting.

"At the same time, we will leave the door of dialogue open to those Malian rebel groups willing to negotiate," she said.

When the meeting concluded, Ramtane Lamamra, the AU's peace and security commissioner, told reporters the council had voted to reinstate Mali.

The AU suspended Mali's membership days after mutinous soldiers staged a coup against then President Amadou Toumani Toure. In April, an interim president, Dioncounda Traore, was sworn in but there remain doubts about who really holds the reins of power even in the government-controlled south of Mali.

MILITARY CAPACITY DOUBTS

Mali remains crippled by twin crises. The leadership in Bamako is still divided after the coup and the north of the country is occupied by Islamic militants.

The proposed path to elections was part of a "strategic concept" endorsed by the council that outlined measures including defense and security reforms to help end the turmoil in Mali.

"The road map provides for elections to be held 12 months after the return to constitutional order, meaning April," Lamamra told Reuters after the meeting.

Before then, Lamamra said, Mali's authorities would have to come up with their own plan for holding elections.

The document said Mali's return to the AU fold would help establish an inclusive political authority.

Regional and international efforts to deal with the situation, which has created a safe haven for Islamists and international criminal gangs, have been hampered by divisions over how to help.

Foreign envoys have voiced concern that the AU's request for U.N. backing in June lacked the necessary details, while others have spoken of serious reservations about the ability of the ECOWAS regional grouping to tackle the northern Islamists anytime soon.

Some envoys predict it could be months before any military operation is put in motion.

Germany's Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said on Tuesday Europe must help restore security in Mali and could lend support through military training to an African-led mission.

(Additional reporting by Adama Diarra in Bamako; Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Michael Roddy and Andrew Osborn)

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North Korea new leader still a mystery after nearly a year: Pentagon

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Whether North Korea's new leader will follow the dangerous path of his father is unclear, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Wednesday, despite worrying behavior by the reclusive state during his first year in power.

"The bottom line is we still don't know whether or not he will simply follow in the steps of his father or whether he represents a different kind of leadership for the future," Panetta said, flanked by South Korea's defense chief at a Pentagon news conference.

The still largely untested Kim Jong-un, in his late 20s, has appeared to be trying hard to soften the dour image of his dictator father, whom he succeeded in December.

He has appeared waving and smiling at public events, even attending a pop concert that included Disney characters. At times - just as unusual for a North Korean leader - he was accompanied by his wife.

South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin noted that Kim Jong-un was trying to introduce economic reforms, even though he acknowledged in the same breath that it was unclear if they could succeed.

But when it comes to the armed forces, the North Korean leader appears to moving ahead with the military-first policy of his father. Panetta pointed to evidence of North Korea's persistent preparations for more missile and nuclear tests and its ongoing uranium enrichment.

The U.S. and South Korean defense chiefs cited North Korea's failed long-range rocket test in April.

"So they continue to behave in a provocative way that threatens the security of our country and obviously of South Korea and the region," Panetta said.

BALLOON INCIDENT

South Korea this month unveiled an agreement with the United States that extends the range of its ballistic missiles by more than twice the current limit to 800 km (497 miles). The agreement also increases the payload that South Korean ballistic missiles can carry.

Whether the agreement acts as a deterrent remains to be seen. Panetta expressed relief that North Korea had not followed through with threats of a "merciless military strike" over efforts by activists in South Korea to launch balloons carrying propaganda leaflets across the border.

South Korean police banned them from sending over the leaflets but some activists reportedly moved to another site near the border and launched the balloons anyway.

"I was relieved that the balloon incident, which raised concerns about potential provocation, that (it) did not occur," he said.

The warning of a military strike was the most explicit in months and the first since Kim Jong-un took power.

South Korea's defense minister warned the North Korean leader may yet prove to be more aggressive.

"He is still young, meaning that he may be a lot more aggressive compared to old people - because he's still young," Kim said.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Xavier Briand)

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Rebels battle Assad's forces for gateway to north Syria

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels are battling to seize an army base close to the main north-south highway and say its capture would be a big step towards creating a "safe zone" allowing them to focus on Bashar al-Assad's southern strongholds.

For two weeks they have surrounded and attacked Wadi al-Deif, east of the town of Maarat al-Numan. They say the ferocity of counter-attacks by government forces shows how important holding the base is to the president's military strategy.

Assad is fighting an insurgency that grew out of protests 19 months ago and has escalated into a civil war in which 30,000 people have been killed. His overstretched army has lost swathes of territory and relies on air power to keep rebels at bay.

If Wadi al-Daif fell to rebels, who already control northern border crossings to Turkey, Assad would be dependent on a single land route - from the Mediterranean port of Latakia - to supply his forces fighting to win back Aleppo, Syria's biggest city.

"The battle started 11 days ago. At first we sent small groups to liberate (the base) and we were surprised by the resistance the regime forces showed," said Lieutenant-Colonel Khaled Hmood, a former army officer who defected to fight Assad.

"The regime is fighting fiercely. It seems that it doesn't care if it loses thousands of troops in order to keep its control over the compound."

Maarat al-Numan has already fallen to Assad's opponents, effectively cutting the Aleppo highway. But without control of the nearby military base, their hold over the road is tenuous.

Hmood said he believed around 400 soldiers were defending Wadi al-Deif - a group of barracks barely 500 meters (yards) from the Damascus-Aleppo road and backed by air power that Assad has deployed against rebels and Maarat al-Numan residents.

The base may also be an important fuel depot, holding at least five million liters of kerosene in five underground bunkers, according to Hmood..

"The regime is bombarding Maarat al-Numan and the villages to pressure us to end the siege," he said. "By bombarding our families they want to force us to pull back."

Anti-Assad activists say 40 civilians were killed in air strikes on the town last Thursday in one of the most intense air offensives of the Syrian conflict.

ARMY REPULSED

The army has resorted to supplying Wadi al-Deif by air, dropping bread and other food supplies from helicopters.

But its efforts to send military reinforcements have been repulsed by the besieging rebels. The last attempt on Sunday ended when four tanks were destroyed and the remnants of an army column had to pull back. "We have noticed that the best strategy is to hit its supply line. We have been harming the regime a lot by hitting the reinforcements it is sending."

Hmood said that if rebels could take the base and secure the highway, they could intensify efforts to cut Assad's second main supply line to the north - the road from Latakia to Aleppo that passes through the town of Jisr al-Shughour.

"If we liberate these barracks we will be able to protect our backs and move on to Jisr al-Shughour from which we can block supplies and reinforcement coming from Latakia," he said.

"This will give us a de-facto free zone ... The north will be liberated and will be our enforced free zone, and the battle will be in the south of the country."

The rebels still face challenges to take the base. Although they have acquired increasingly deadly arms, including artillery and anti-aircraft weapons, they have regularly complained that they have only limited supplies to keep up the fight.

There have been bouts of heavy fighting along the border with Turkey with some rounds of heavy weapons fire crashing on Turkish territory, prompting Ankara to beef up its military presence and return fire.

On Tuesday an anti-aircraft shell fired from Syria hit a health center in the Reyhanli district of Turkey's Hatay province but there were no reports of injuries, CNN Turk television said.

Tension between the two formerly allied states has soared since Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan broke with Assad last year over his violent crackdown on popular protests.

The sporadic skirmishes along the border have heightened concern that Syria's civil war could drag in regional powers.

International mediator Lakhdar Brahimi, who ended a four-day visit to Damascus on Tuesday, has pushed for a ceasefire to mark the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha, which starts on Friday, hoping for a respite from daily death tolls of around 150.

But he did not win a public commitment to a truce in his talks with Assad, and the rebels say there is little point to a ceasefire that cannot be monitored or enforced.

Assad granted a limited amnesty for crimes committed up until Tuesday, excluding those involved in weapons smuggling.

(Additional reporting by Daren Butler and Ece Toksabay in Turkey; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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Major powers examine long-shot options in Iran talks

BRUSSELS/VIENNA (Reuters) - Big powers may ask Iran for stricter limits on its nuclear work if it wants an easing of harsh sanctions - a long-shot approach aimed at yielding a negotiated solution that has eluded them for more than a decade.

A solution to the standoff is increasingly urgent. The longer the impasse goes on, the closer Iran could get to the technological threshold of a capability to build an atom bomb, raising the odds of Israeli strikes against its installations.

Western diplomats say the possibility of revising their negotiating tactic is under discussion as they prepare for possible talks with Iran after the November 6 presidential election in the United States, following three inconclusive rounds this year.

One option could be for each side to put more on the table - both in terms of demands and possible rewards - than in previous meetings in a bid to break the stalemate despite deep skepticism about the chances of a breakthrough any time soon.

Years of diplomacy and sanctions have failed to resolve a dispute between the West and Iran over its nuclear program, raising fears of Israeli military action against its arch foe and a new Middle East war damaging to a fragile world economy.

"The next meeting would have to be well prepared," said one Western diplomat. "There could be interesting new developments, like more demands and more concessions."

Israel, believed to be the Middle East's only nuclear power and convinced a nuclear Tehran would pose a mortal threat, says Iran could arrive at the point of being able to "weaponise" enriched uranium next spring or summer.

Iran denies accusations it is seeking nuclear weapons and has so far refused to meet demands that it scales back its atomic activity, insisting on immediate sanctions relief.

Western powers have rejected that and, instead, offered limited incentives focused on technology cooperation. They have also ramped up punitive measures to draw Iran, one of the world's biggest oil producers, into meaningful talks.

Another Western diplomat cautioned that a new strategy for diplomacy had yet to be finalized by Iran's six interlocutors: the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany.

But he said a new meeting with Iran soon after the U.S. vote could not be ruled out, and preparations were under way.

"It is possible there may indeed be some meeting in November to discuss an offer ... and that we ask more of the Iranians, in which case we could offer more," this diplomat said.

SEARCHING FOR SOLUTIONS

In a possible sign diplomacy could gather speed after the U.S. election, the New York Times has reported Washington and Iran have agreed in principle to hold one-on-one negotiations, although the White House denied that any talks had been set.

In the earlier meetings this year, the powers called on Iran to stop producing higher-grade enriched uranium, shut down its Fordow underground facility and ship out its stockpile.

Iran rejected the proposal, described by Western officials as an initial step to build confidence, and demanded recognition of its "right" to refine uranium, activity which can have both civilian and military purposes, as well as lifting of sanctions.

But for Iran to secure any relaxation of the pressure, it would have to take substantial additional action beyond the so-called "stop, shut and ship" demand, another Western official said. "For a lifting of sanctions they would have to do much more than just these three steps," the official said.

A more-more strategy would make sense as the West would want to see strict limits to Iran's entire enrichment program, said nuclear expert Mark Fitzpatrick of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) think-tank.

Any new proposal would also have to take into account Iran's growing holdings of refined uranium as well as its expanding enrichment capacity, according to Fitzpatrick.

In return for making concessions, Iran "will need some sanctions relief beyond the meager measures that were offered in the earlier rounds of talks," he added.

But Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group said a "gulf of expectations" between negotiators and the irreversible nature of many sanctions made a "more-for-more" strategy implausible.

"Managing to seal a 'big-for-big' deal in the total absence of trust would be equivalent to reversing the law of gravity."

Iran has enough low-enriched uranium for several atomic bombs if it were refined to a high degree, but may still be a few years away from being able to assemble a missile if it decided to go down that path, analysts say.

Experts say it has become increasingly unrealistic to expect Iran to suspend all its enrichment, even if this demand is enshrined in a series of U.N. Security Council resolutions, and the aim should be to restrain the activity as much as possible.

Daryl Kimball of the Washington-based Arms Control Association said high-level U.S.-Iranian talks could help to reach a deal and reduce the risk of a nuclear-armed Iran.

Negotiators should seek to limit Iran's enrichment, cap its stockpiles and give U.N. inspectors more access to ensure it does not engage in weapons-related nuclear activity. In return, there would be a "phased rollback of sanctions," he said.

(Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed in Washington; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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Explosions, fire at arms factory in Sudan's capital

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - A huge fire broke out after a loud explosion on Tuesday night at an arms factory in Sudan's capital Khartoum, a Reuters witness said.

Soldiers blocked roads to the factory where more explosions took place as firefighters tried to contain the blaze, a Reuters reporter at the scene in southern Khartoum said.

The state-linked Sudanese Media Centre said the fire and explosions had occurred at the Yarmouk ammunition factory. The army spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

(Reporting by Khalid Abddelaziz; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Michael Roddy)

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White House told of militant claim two hours after Libya attack: emails

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Officials at the White House and State Department were advised two hours after attackers assaulted the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11 that an Islamic militant group had claimed credit for the attack, official emails show.

The emails, obtained by Reuters from government sources not connected with U.S. spy agencies or the State Department and who requested anonymity, specifically mention that the Libyan group called Ansar al-Sharia had asserted responsibility for the attacks.

The brief emails also show how U.S. diplomats described the attack, even as it was still under way, to Washington.

U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the Benghazi assault, which President Barack Obama and other U.S. officials ultimately acknowledged was a "terrorist" attack carried out by militants with suspected links to al Qaeda affiliates or sympathizers.

Administration spokesmen, including White House spokesman Jay Carney, citing an unclassified assessment prepared by the CIA, maintained for days that the attacks likely were a spontaneous protest against an anti-Muslim film.

While officials did mention the possible involvement of "extremists," they did not lay blame on any specific militant groups or possible links to al Qaeda or its affiliates until intelligence officials publicly alleged that on September 28.

There were indications that extremists with possible al Qaeda connections were involved, but also evidence that the attacks could have erupted spontaneously, they said, adding that government experts wanted to be cautious about pointing fingers prematurely.

U.S. intelligence officials have emphasized since shortly after the attack that early intelligence reporting about the attack was mixed.

Spokesmen for the White House and State Department had no immediate response to requests for comments on the emails.

MISSIVES FROM LIBYA

The records obtained by Reuters consist of three emails dispatched by the State Department's Operations Center to multiple government offices, including addresses at the White House, Pentagon, intelligence community and FBI, on the afternoon of September 11.

The first email, timed at 4:05 p.m. Washington time - or 10:05 p.m. Benghazi time, 20-30 minutes after the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission allegedly began - carried the subject line "U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi Under Attack" and the notation "SBU", meaning "Sensitive But Unclassified."

The text said the State Department's regional security office had reported that the diplomatic mission in Benghazi was "under attack. Embassy in Tripoli reports approximately 20 armed people fired shots; explosions have been heard as well."

The message continued: "Ambassador Stevens, who is currently in Benghazi, and four ... personnel are in the compound safe haven. The 17th of February militia is providing security support."

A second email, headed "Update 1: U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi" and timed 4:54 p.m. Washington time, said that the Embassy in Tripoli had reported that "the firing at the U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi had stopped and the compound had been cleared." It said a "response team" was at the site attempting to locate missing personnel.

A third email, also marked SBU and sent at 6:07 p.m. Washington time, carried the subject line: "Update 2: Ansar al-Sharia Claims Responsibility for Benghazi Attack."

The message reported: "Embassy Tripoli reports the group claimed responsibility on Facebook and Twitter and has called for an attack on Embassy Tripoli."

While some information identifying recipients of this message was redacted from copies of the messages obtained by Reuters, a government source said that one of the addresses to which the message was sent was the White House Situation Room, the president's secure command post.

Other addressees included intelligence and military units as well as one used by the FBI command center, the source said.

It was not known what other messages were received by agencies in Washington from Libya that day about who might have been behind the attacks.

Intelligence experts caution that initial reports from the scene of any attack or disaster are often inaccurate.

By the morning of September 12, the day after the Benghazi attack, Reuters reported that there were indications that members of both Ansar al-Sharia, a militia based in the Benghazi area, and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the North African affiliate of al Qaeda's faltering central command, may have been involved in organizing the attacks.

One U.S. intelligence official said that during the first classified briefing about Benghazi given to members of Congress, officials "carefully laid out the full range of sparsely available information, relying on the best analysis available at the time."

The official added, however, that the initial analysis of the attack that was presented to legislators was mixed.

"Briefers said extremists were involved in attacks that appeared spontaneous, there may have been a variety of motivating factors, and possible links to groups such as (al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Ansar al-Sharia) were being looked at closely," the official said.

(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Mary Milliken and Jim Loney)

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Powerful quake strikes Costa Rica, no initial reports of damage

SAN JOSE (Reuters) - A powerful earthquake struck western Costa Rica on Tuesday, shaking buildings in the capital and sending residents running onto the streets, but there were no initial reports of damage or injuries.

Inhabitants of San Jose ran out of buildings after the 6.6 magnitude quake hit, following another big quake last month. Many went back indoors soon afterward, a Reuters witness said.

The quake was centered about 38 miles south of Liberia, in Guanacaste province, at a depth of 24.5 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The USGS had initially measured the quake at a significantly shallower depth.

National television station Telenoticias reported that goods fell off shelves in supermarkets in Cabano, a town in Costa Rica's Nicoya peninsula inside Guanacaste.

Both the Red Cross and the National Emergency Commission said no injuries had been registered so far.

The quake struck in a tourist area close to where the Central American nation was rocked by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake on September 5, which damaged buildings but caused no deaths.

Guanacaste's head of police, Rafael Angel Araya, said there had been no reports of damage to buildings or injuries, and that police were heading out to inspect the province.

"They're starting out with any buildings slightly damaged in the previous tremors as a precautionary measure because these are the structures that could potentially fall," he said.

(Reporting by Isabella Cota; Editing by Eric Walsh and Christopher Wilson)

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