Damascus - The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned on Wednesday the US charge d'affaires in protest at a military raid on Syria, Syrian news agency SANA reported.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said it was waiting for clarification from the Iraqi and US governments on the raid that killed eight people near Syria's border with Iraq. Syria called the raid "unacceptable for Syria's sovereignty" and said it could take measures in response. No further details were given.

Washington - The United States would support efforts by the Afghan government to open dialogue with with Taliban militants and other insurgents to end the violence, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

"They are an independent, sovereign state," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said. "If that's what they see in their best interest, we fully support it and we'll do whatever we can to help facilitate it."

Bangkok - The 2004 tsunami that devastated northern Indonesia and Thailand's Andaman coast had at least one likely precedent about 600 years ago, Nature Magazine said Wednesday.

Two groups of scientists have found sedimentary evidence for possible predecessors to the 2004 catastrophe on Phra Thong Island, Thailand and in Aceh, Indonesia, suggesting that a similar-sized tsunami occurred in 1400 AD, predating any historical records.

The December 26, 2004 tsunami, triggered by a 9.2 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Sumatra, took the region by surprise, leaving an estimated 226,000 people dead and missing from 11 countries rimming the Indian Ocean.