UN inspectors visit petroleum research centre, universities and factories in Iraq

A petroleum research centre, universities and factories were among the sites visited today by United Nations weapons inspectors.

According to a spokesman for the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a chemical team went to the Al Basil Centre-Jadriyah in Baghdad, primarily a research centre for petroleum products.

The team then proceeded to Fallujah II, primarily a phenol and chlorine production facility, where a metal analyzing instrument was used. Another chemical team returned to the Al Qa Qaa complex to inspect storage facilities and used mobile sampling equipment during the inspection.

An UNMOVIC biological team inspected Babil (Babylon) University Colleges of Medicine and Science, while another revisited the Amiryah Serum and Vaccine Institute in Baghdad. “The team inspected three warehouses, refrigerated trucks and several containers,” spokesman Hiro Ueki said in Baghdad. “This was the third visit to this declared site.”

Meanwhile, an UNMOVIC missile team, supported by geophysical inspectors, went to Al Mutaseem, where they used electromagnetic detectors during the inspection.

Multidisciplinary teams inspected the Al Rasheed Factory, which manufactures fuses for artillery munitions and is affiliated with the Heteen State Company, and the Al-Mishraq Sulphur State Company in Mosul, which conducts sulphur mining and comprises a sulphuric acid and an aluminium sulphate plant as well as the required utilities.

The IAEA inspected four colleges at the University of Baghdad: the College of Engineering, the Second College of Engineering, the College of Education for Women and the College of Science for Women.