UN inspectors continue weapons probe across Iraq

Travelling by air and over land, United Nations arms inspectors today continued to fan out across Iraq probing the country's suspected covert weapons programme.

A team of missile experts from the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) went to the Ibn Sina Centre nearly 70 kilometres north of Baghdad. "In this large centre, which is also known as Tarmiyah, the team inspected several buildings to verify the equipment and raw materials used in chemical processes liked to missile activities, such as the production of ammonium perchlorate for solid propellants and the regeneration of oxidizer and fuel used in liquid propulsion," said Baghdad-based UN spokesman Hiro Ueki.

An UNMOVIC multidisciplinary team flew by helicopter approximately 300 kilometres west northwest of Baghdad to inspect an airfield which is currently not in operation.

Mr. Ueki also reported that an UNMOVIC chemical team inspected five Colleges belonging to Tikrit University, approximately 200 kilometres northwest of Baghdad. "These were the Colleges of Science, Agriculture, Engineering, Medicine and Women's Education," he said.

In addition, UN germ warfare experts returned to the two sites they had visited yesterday for further inspection: the State Company for Drugs and Medical Appliances Marketing at Al Addile, and the same company located at Al Dabash.

A Mosul-based multidisciplinary UN team inspected the Mosul Dairy Plant "to determine the status of current activities and to verify the previously tagged equipment," Mr. Ueki said.

Meanwhile, specialists from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspected the Saddam GE Plant, 126 kilometres southeast of Baghdad, and the Qa Qaa Sumood Explosives Plant, 60 kilometres south of Baghdad. "The Saddam GE Plant has an engineering machine tools capability and the Sumood Plant produces civilian as well as military explosives," explained Mr. Ueki.