UN monitors continue inspections at Al Samoud 2 missile sites in Iraq

Continuing the search for evidence of banned weapons in Iraq, teams from the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) today performed inspections at five separate sites, all related to the country's Al Samoud 2 missile programme.

A spokesman for UNMOVIC said one team placed additional tags onto Al-Samoud 2 missiles and warheads in the Baghdad area, while a second team returned to the Al Samoud Factory, where significant equipment involved in manufacturing was tagged.

A third team went to Ibn Al Haytham, where the status of missiles being assembled was determined, while a fourth team inspected the Al Qudis factory, where research and development, assembly and testing of guidance and control systems are carried out. A fifth team inspected Al Wazariya, another site involved in the manufacturing of the Al Samoud 2 missile and significant equipment involved in the manufacturing was tagged.

In addition, an UNMOVIC chemical team conducted a rebaseline inspection of the Al Aaela Factory for Sulfochemicals, a privately owned company west of Baghdad.

Two UNMOVIC biological teams performed aerial inspections. The first team inspected a site 25 kilometres west of Baghdad and another 70 kilometres southwest. The second team flew by helicopter and inspected an alcohol-producing factory in the southeastern part of the country.

An UNMOVIC multidisciplinary team conducted an air reconnaissance of several sites northwest of Baghdad, along the Tigris River, up to the city of Tikrit. After about two hours, the team returned to the Rasheed Air Base in Baghdad due to bad weather.

Meanwhile, one International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team inspected flow-forming equipment at several facilities around Baghdad. These facilities were: Al Karama, the Samood Company, Ghraib and Ibn Al Haytham. The team also visited the Shakyli Stores at Tuwaitha to inspect materials from Iraq's past centrifuge programme.

A second IAEA team had to break off a helicopter mission and return to the Rasheed Air Base airport due to bad weather, while a third team inspected the Al Eyz Company, northwest of Baghdad, which produces printed circuit boards and telecommunications equipment.

A fourth IAEA team performed a car-borne radiation survey of the ElBasel Company- ElNahrawan, the Sabaa (Seven) Nisan General Company, a residential complex for workers in the oil industry, the Department of Oil Truck Maintenance, and an air defence unit in an area east of Baghdad.