US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell yesterday hinted the United States might eventually target Iraq as part of its anti-terrorism campaig.
But he said Afghanistan-based Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network remain the primary objectives.
Asked if the Bush administration had ruled out for the time-being bombing targets in Iraq, Mr Powell told CBS television: "The president has focused on the first phase of the operation.
"It deals with al-Qaeda, it deals with Osama bin Laden, it deals with the general issue of terrorism around the world. He has ruled nothing out with respect to the second, third or fourth phases of our campaign militarily".
The United States has designated bin Laden, being sheltered by the ruling Taliban in Afghanistan, as the prime suspect in the September 11th suicide attacks in New York and Washington, which killed about 5,700 people.
The United States has so far produced no evidence to link Iraq with the operations against the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon outside Washington.
AFP