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TREASURIES-Bond yields touch lowest since Sept. 11 on safe-haven buys

* U.S. and Arab allies bomb Syria for first time

* U.S. flash PMI unchanged from August reading

By Sam Forgione

NEW YORK, Sept 23 (Reuters) - U.S. benchmark Treasuries yields on Tuesday fell to their lowest since Sept. 11 after U.S. and Arab warplanes bombed Syria, triggering concerns about the extent of U.S. involvement and effects on oil prices.

The strikes against Islamic State targets on Tuesday and members of a separate al Qaeda-linked group and drove safe-haven bids on concerns that the conflict could intensify.

"We're starting to see a little bit of safe-haven buying come back into the market," said David Coard, head of fixed income sales and trading at Williams Capital Group in New York.

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U.S. Treasuries are often sought by investors as a safe place to park cash on perceptions of heightened geopolitical risk which threaten to dampen economic growth.

Coard said the risk of the U.S. becoming involved in a longer-term fight could weigh on the U.S. economy, and that the proximity of the strikes to Middle Eastern oil producers could ramp up oil prices and hurt U.S. consumer spending.

Benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury notes were last up 3/32 in price to yield 2.55 percent, from 2.57 percent late Monday.

U.S. 30-year Treasuries were last up 8/32 to yield 3.28 percent, from 3.29 percent late Monday. Bond yields move in inverse relationship to prices.

Benchmark yields hit their lowest yields since Sept. 11, when they had slipped partly because of President Barack Obama's speech the night before on the Islamic State, which boded a potential for sustained conflict in Syria and Iraq.

Coard also said safe-haven bids for Treasuries also kept shorter-dated yields stable and overshadowed any selling pressure ahead of the U.S. Treasury's auction of $29 billion in two-year notes at 1 p.m. (1700 GMT).

Also jangling nerves was Syria saying Israel had shot down a Syrian warplane in what it described as an act of aggression, confirming the first such incident in three decades an fueling safety bids for Treasuries.

Manufacturing data Tuesday had little impact on Treasuries yields. Financial data firm Markit (Stuttgart: A1139A - news) said its preliminary or "flash" U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index was unchanged from August's reading of 57.9, the highest since April 2010. Economists polled by Reuters expected it to edge up to 58.

On Wall Street, U.S. stocks opened lower on the conflict in the Middle East and after the U.S. Treasury moved to curb "tax inversion" deals. The S&P 500 was last down just 0.2 percent.

(Editing by W Simon)