UNITED NATIONS - The United States Thursday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution introduced by Arab nations to condemn Israel for assassinating militant Palestinian leader Ahmed Yassin.

The Bush administration, alone among major powers in not condemning Monday's assassination as an extrajudicial killing, rejected the resolution because it did not also denounce Yassin's group Hamas for suicide bombings that have killed hundreds of Israeli civilians in recent years.

Washington's "no" vote killed the resolution because it is one of the five permanent members of the council with veto power. A total of eleven countries voted in favor.

Britain, Germany and Romania abstained after Algeria, negotiating for Arab nations, rejected an amendment they wanted that would have condemned "atrocities" against Israelis.

The measure was supported by China, Russia, France, Angola, Chile, Pakistan, Spain, Algeria, Benin, Brazil and the Philippines.

Palestinian representatives said they would take the resolution to the 191-member U.N. General Assembly. The Palestinians enjoy strong support in the assembly while Washington, Israel's closest ally, has no veto there.

Security Council measures can carry the force of international law, but assembly resolutions express the will of the international community.

In a statement to the council before the vote, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said that Washington believed the assassination of Yassin damaged peace efforts.

But he also said the "unbalanced" resolution would detract from the so-called road map peace plan by a quartet of Middle East advisers -- the United Nations, the United States, Russia and the European Union.

"This resolution refers only to the situation in the occupied territories, ignoring the tragic events in Israel," Negroponte said.

Algeria, the only Arab nation on the council, introduced a draft resolution condemning "the most recent extrajudicial execution committed by Israel." It also condemned "all attacks against any civilians as well as all acts of violence and destruction."

Yassin was a founder of Hamas, which has sworn to destroy the Jewish state. Visiting the U.N. on Wednesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom described Yassin as the "godfather of the suicide bombers."

The U.S. veto was Washington's 79th in the U.N. Security Council since it first convened in 1946 -- more than any other country except the former Soviet Union. Most of Moscow's vetoes were during the Cold War era when it frequently clashed with the United States in the world body.

© Copyright 2004 Reuters Ltd

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