US, Cuba to meet on mysterious 'health attacks' in Havana

WASHINGTON (AP) — National security agencies and members of Congress are frustrated by the lack of answers about what the United States describes as "health attacks" that have injured American diplomats in Cuba.

A meeting today between U.S. and Cuban officials was intended to try to help determine the method and motive behind those mysterious incidents that began nearly two years ago and have affected about two dozen people, including some diagnosed with brain damage.

A flurry of reports has suggesting investigators have narrowed their suspicions as to the cause and culprit.

Cuba's foreign ministry said nine members of the scientific team it assembled to look into the incidents met with members of Congress and the National Academy of Sciences before the talks at the State Department.

The Cuban Embassy in Washington said the team is proposing "a dispassionate examination of health reports of U.S. diplomats in Cuba according to the rules of science."

The planned meeting is "part of our ongoing effort to investigate and better understand the health conditions of our diplomats," the State Department said.

It said the Cuban delegation would "receive a general medical briefing about the injuries experienced by U.S. personnel who served in Havana."

The department has played down or denied reports that investigators have focused on a microwave device as the source of the attacks and that Russia is the leading suspect.

The reports have raised protests from Cuba, which does not dispute the symptoms but insists there is no evidence to support any assertion that they were caused by premeditated attacks on its soil.