UN weapons inspectors make first Mirage IV surveillance flight in Iraq

United Nations weapons inspectors have carried out their first Mirage IV surveillance operation in Iraq, adding a second element to their air inspections that already include U-2 flights.

UN spokesman Hiro Ueki said in Baghdad that the flight took place yesterday.

In today's operations, chemical teams from the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) destroyed more mustard-filled artillery shells at Al Muthana and inspected the Northern Refineries Company in Baiji, approximately 240 kilometres north of Baghdad.

A biological team inspected further digging at Al Aziziyah Airfield and Firing Range in search of R-400 aerial bombs and bomb fragments. Iraq says the bombs were filled with biological agents and destroyed at the site in 1991. Additional fragments of R-400 bombs were identified, Mr. Ueki said.

In Baghdad, a missile team inspected the David Bros Company, which supplies electronic equipment and mechanical components for missiles and is involved in research and development of remote piloted vehicle (RPV). A multidisciplinary team carried out aerial surveillance around two large sites west and southwest of Baghdad. "These sites correspond to the facilities which were involved in chemical and biological research and development in the past," Mr. Ueki said.

Teams from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspected the State Establishment for Electrical Industries (SEEI), a small motors and electrical appliances manufacturer in Baghdad, and performed a car-borne radiation survey in industrial areas about 90 kilometres west of Baghdad.