VIENNA (KUNA) -- Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed El-Baradei slammed Israel on Thursday evening for bombing al-Kibar site in Syria in late 2007.

""The Israeli air-strike against the site hindered the probe of the UN nuclear watchdog into the activities of the site,"" he said in a briefing to the meeting of the 35-member IAEA board of governors here.
""The first set of environmental swipe samples taken by IAEA investigators given access to the bombed site in June turned up no indications of nuclear material,"" El-Baradei asserted.
He made the comments in response to western demands for accelerating the IAEA probe and declaring its results.
The preliminary investigations showed no traces of carbon that could have indicated a North Korean prototype graphite reactor, the IAEA chief noted.
Meanwhile, he urged more cooperation by the Syrian authorities to verify that the nature of the activities of the site has nothing to do with nuclear enrichment.
In his address to the closed-door meeting, the U.S. envoy to the IAEA Ambassador Gregory Schulte said Syria's file was grave enough to warrant a written report from IAEA Director Mohamed ElBaradei.
""Given the gravity of this issue for the (nuclear non-proliferation) safeguards regime, the United States looks forward to a comprehensive report for the November board meeting,"" he urged.
The report should detail, ""in writing,"" the status of the investigation in Syria, and Syria's cooperation with the investigation, Schulte underscored.
For his part, Syrian envoy Ibrahim Othman said the bombed site was only an unfinished, ordinary military facility.
""I'm 100 percent sure it had nothing to do with nuclear activity,"" he said, refuting reports that Syria had been obstructing IAEA access to Syrian facilities or refusing to answer queries of the UN nuclear watchdog.
Othman pledged pursuing cooperation with the IAEA ""but such cooperation should not infringe on our national security."" ""Syria is still in a state of war against Israel,"" he pointed out.