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

LONDON (Reuters) - Syria denied on 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 on 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 on Tuesday to shut down an American school and an American cultural centre in Damascus, the official SANA news agency said.

The U.S. official said on 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.