UN inspectors in Iraq probe missile development facilities

As the United Nations continued its arms inspections in Iraq today, experts from the world body probed further into the country's missile development capacity.

Teams from the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) inspected the Ibn Al facility, where they inventoried components and sub-assemblies of the Al Samoud 2 missile, which is produced at the site.

A second team inspected the remains of a liquid engine propellant test stand and placed tags on two pieces of manufacturing equipment, while a third team inspected Al Nasser – a large facility involved in the production of components for the Al Samoud 2 missile, according to a UN spokesman in Baghdad.

An UNMOVIC multidisciplinary team inspected the Iraqi Army's Liquid Propellant Analytical Laboratory, which spokesman Hiro Ueki said "performs validation and control analyses of rocket and missile fuel used in air defense."

Biological warfare experts visited two sites in the Baghdad area, a research centre and a testing laboratory, "to observe the destruction of a relatively small amount of out-of-date bacterial growth media previously monitored by the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM)," Mr. Ueki said. He added that this action was taken following a formal request from the sites transmitted through the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate.

Meanwhile, experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conducted a car-borne radiation survey in the area of the Yarmouk GE Site. They also inspected the Al Kadessiya General Establishment and the Al Nahrawan munitions factory.