U.S. OBTAINS INFO ON GAZA AMBUSH The United States has reported receiving information from Palestinians on the identity of the killers of three U.S. embassy security guards in October 2003.

The State Department said the Palestinian Authority has provided the names of those who killed the U.S. embassy guards in the ambush of a convoy north of Gaza City last year. But the department stressed that it has not confirmed the information.

Officials said the PA information came after the United States discussed the results of its own investigation into the killings. They said the State Department has determined the identities of some of the attackers from information received from unspecified Palestinians.

"We've passed some information on who might be responsible," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on July 15. "But I can't go into the information any further and I would not say that we have anything that would substitute for the kind of thorough and professional investigation the Palestinians need to conduct in this matter."

The United States has warned the PA that Washington would not approve any aid to the Gaza Strip until the killers of the Americans were captured. Officials have accused the PA of blocking the investigation into the Oct. 15, 2003 strike.

"We think that Palestinian Authority officials have yet to conduct such a thorough investigation, nor to present any credible evidence identifying the perpetrators of the attack," Boucher said. "We have shared some information with the Palestinians on who may be responsible for this, but this needs to result in a serious and credible investigation of the kind that we have not yet seen in the Palestinian side."

In May, U.S. officials said they received information that PA Chairman Yasser Arafat endorsed a Fatah plan to kill Americans in the Gaza Strip. They said Arafat was told by a leading Fatah aide a month before the attack that the United States should be taught a lesson.