UNITED NATIONS: Lebanon's prime minister asked U.N. investigators probing last year's assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri to assist the government's investigation of the latest assassination of a prominent anti-Syrian Cabinet minister, the U.N. chief said Wednesday.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Prime Minister Fuad Saniora sent him a letter after Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel was shot repeatedly in Beirut on Tuesday requesting "technical assistance" in the government's investigation.

Saniora asked that the U.N. investigation commission led by Belgian judge Serge Brammertz contact the appropriate Lebanese authorities, Annan said in a letter to the Security Council president.

Since the International Independent Investigation Commission reports to the Security Council, Annan said he was transmitting Saniora's request "in order for members to take appropriate action."

A resolution adopted by the council in June extending the Brammertz commission's mandate for a year supports the investigation's intention to provide technical assistance to the government into other terrorist attacks in Lebanon "as it deems appropriate."

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said the United States backs Saniora's request and believes Brammertz already has the authorization to help the Lebanese government.

"Assuming he has resources, and we think that he does, it would be our view that he already has authority to extend that assistance," Bolton said. "It would be prudent to do that as rapidly as possible while the crime scene evidence is still fresh and before obstruction of justice can take place."

Gemayel, 34, the scion of a prominent Christian family, was assassinated hours before the Security Council approved a tribunal to prosecute the suspected killers of Hariri and 14 other Lebanese who died at the hands of assassins or their bombs.

With the Security Council's green light, it is now up to the Lebanese government to give final approval to the establishment of the tribunal, which would be located outside Lebanon and have a majority of international judges and an international prosecutor. Annan said having more international than Lebanese judges would help ensure the tribunal's independence.

The February 2005 truck bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others sparked huge protests against Syria, which was widely seen as culpable. Syria denied involvement, but was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, ending a 29-year presence.

Syria also denied involvement in Gemayel's assassination and condemned it, but Syria's opponents in Lebanon and allies of Gemayel pointed the finger at Damascus. Some accused Syria of trying to block the establishment of the tribunal.

Lebanon's Council of Ministers, led by Saniora who is anti-Syrian, approved the tribunal plan on Nov. 13 but pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud has challenged the ministers' decision. Saniora's government has also come under intense pressure from Hezbollah, which has close ties to Syria and Iran and gained strength from this summer's war against Israel, to give them more power or face street protests.

With Gemayel's death and earlier resignations, Saniora's Cabinet is down to 17 members — just one more than the minimum required by the country's Constitution. There are fears among Saniora's supporters that other Cabinet members will be assassinated which would lead to the collapse of his government.

Bolton noted the concerns expressed Tuesday in Lebanon "that additional assassinations might be coming."

Noting that Nov. 22 is the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, Bolton said: "Certainly for the United States today's a day to remember assassinations, and it's why we feel so strongly that we need to support the government of Lebanon and hopefully deter any further acts of terrorism, or to make it clear that terrorists who do engage in these acts will be prosecuted."

The best way to stop the killings, he said, is to "find the killers and put them in jail." "If we don't proceed with the operation of Lebanese law and the investigation and prosecution of these assassinations, then the terrorists will have won, and they know it," Bolton warned.

"So from our perspective this is not a close question about the need to enforce law against assassination, because if that breaks down it's the law of the jungle and that's what we fear — that's what we think the terrorists may want to provoke," he said.