IRAQ: UN arms experts launched their first aerial inspection in Iraq on Tuesday, using helicopters to fly to suspect sites in a hunt for alleged weapons of mass destruction.
Teams from the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have stepped up their searches before reporting back to the Security Council by January 27th.
IAEA chief Dr Mohamed ElBaradei said yesterday his inspectors had not yet found any evidence that Baghdad was developing nuclear weapons. "We haven't yet seen any smoking gun," he said.
A day after Iraqi President Saddam Hussein charged the inspectors of engaging in "intelligence work", three UN helicopters carrying arms experts flew to al Qaim State Company for Fertilisers in Akashat, 450 km to the west and close to Syria.
They were accompanied by two helicopters from the Iraqi Monitoring Directorate, the office liaising with the inspectors. One of the Iraqi aircraft was carrying journalists from the Western media.
"We are going to use the helicopters for a variety of operations. Transportation is one, aerial inspections, aerial monitoring and possibly in conjunction with a land-based inspections," said UN spokesman Mr Hiro Ukei in Baghdad.
Commenting on President Saddam's criticism of the inspectors, Mr Ukei said: "They inspect sites, they meet officials and personnel at the sites and ask a lot of questions. These questions are part of their investigations." He said arms experts visited 10 sites yesterday, including five missile facilities.
An UNMOVIC missile team inspected the Al Mamoun plant of the Al-Rasheed Company, where some critical equipment was tagged, and the Al Mutasim plant, where a static missile test is planned soon.
Another missile team searched Al Samoud factory, 40 km west of Baghdad, where they checked two missile engines which will be tested by Iraq in the next few days. A third team went to a site inside the Fallujah military industrial complex north-west of Baghdad to continue tagging Al Fatah surface-to-surface solid propellant rockets.
A biological team visited the Saddam Centre for Cancer and Medical Genetics in Baghdad.
- (Reuters)