As IAEA interviews Iraqi, UN inspections focus on missile sites

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today interviewed an engineer previously associated with Iraq's former gas centrifuge enrichment programme, according to a UN spokesman in Baghdad.

As the IAEA conducted its interview, missile teams from the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) carried out inspections at five separate sites: Al Fida Company, which is involved in the maintenance of the Al Samoud 2 missile launcher; Ibn Al Haythm, which is involved in the manufacture and assembly of the Al Samoud 2 missile; Al Samoud Factory, which fabricates Al Samoud 2 missile components; Al Mamoun, which manufactures solid propellant rocket motors and a location of field deployment of Al Samoud 2 missiles.

"The teams continued to verify the number and location of Al Samoud 2-related items and to tag relevant items," spokesman Hiro Ueki said.

Meanwhile, an UNMOVIC chemical team returned to Al Mutanna and continued the process of destroying the artillery shells filled with mustard gas. A second chemical team inspected two sites - Al Rasheed and Al Mamoun, both located in Baghdad - belonging to the State Establishment for Vegetable Oils.

An UNMOVIC biological team inspected the College of Agriculture, the College of Sciences, and the College of Engineering, all located on the campus of Tikrit University in Tikrit, 160 kilometres northwest of Baghdad. Subsequently, the team inspected the College of Women Education at Tikrit University and a dairy factory, both located in south Tikrit, Mr. Ueki reported.

In the capital, an UNMOVIC multidisciplinary team inspected the Ibn Al Waleed State Company, a factory specialized in the repair and maintenance of military vehicles.

As for the IAEA, one team inspected the Al-Feda'a hydraulics factory and the manufacturing, storage and repair facility for the State Company of Mechanical and Electrical Contracts, located south of Baghdad. A second IAEA team inspected Al Zawraa, an electronics company, while a third performed a car-borne radiation survey in an area 25 to 60 kilometres east of Baghdad.

In other news, the UN Office of the Iraq Programme, which oversees the humanitarian oil-for-food operation, reported that Iraqi oil exports for the week ending 14 February totalled 11.4 million barrels for an estimated value of $315 million.