Beirut, Dec 4 (SPA) - Lebanon has asked U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to extend for six months the mandate of an inquiry into the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora told Annan in a phone call on Saturday that the Lebanese government wanted the inquiry to continue for six months after its Dec. 15 deadline, and be open to further extensions, a statement from his office said. Lebanon's government agreed on Thursday to ask the United Nations to continue its probe into the Feb. 14 truck bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others, but U.N. diplomats said the chief investigator in the case, Detlev Mehlis, planned to leave his job by the end of the year, Reuters reported. --SPA ssss 1351 Local Time 1051 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/307669