UNITED NATIONS, March 28 (Reuters) - A network of individuals was responsible for killing former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri in 2005 and was linked to other political murders in Lebanon, U.N. investigators said on Friday.

The finding came in the latest report by a U.N. commission set up to investigate the Hariri assassination and related cases and was distributed to the U.N. Security Council on Friday.

"The commission can now confirm, on the basis of available evidence, that a network of individuals acted in concert to carry out the assassination of ... Hariri and that this criminal network -- the 'Hariri network' -- or parts thereof are linked to some of the other cases," the report said.

The panel said it had evidence the network existed before the Hariri killing, conducted surveillance of him before he was killed and continued, at least in part, to operate afterward.

Hariri and 22 other people died in a car bomb explosion in Beirut on Feb. 14, 2005. Some anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians have said Syria was behind the bombing. Damascus has denied involvement and the U.N. report identified no suspects.

The report was the 10th to be issued by the commission but the first since Canadian Daniel Bellemare took charge of the panel from Belgium's Serge Brammertz.

Last year the United Nations set up a special tribunal to try suspects in the Hariri killing once the investigation is complete. Friday's report gave no indication of when that would be. (Reporting by Patrick Worsnip; Editing by Bill Trott)

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