A U.N. inspection team on Monday went to a Baghdad factory that made guidance and control systems for Iraq's "stretch Scuds," Soviet-made missiles that the Iraqis modified to longer range and used in the Gulf War.
Iraqi Information Ministry officials said a second team of inspectors visited an alcohol plant on Baghdad's outskirts. According to AP, the goal of the inspection could not be immediately determined.
On Sunday, the director of an airfield north of Baghdad was not at the base when U.N. weapons inspectors arrived. Montadhar Radeef Mohammed was further surprised Sunday when he was kept outside until the inspectors gave him permission to enter the base they were searching for devices that can spray deadly microbes from the air.
"We are not giving any notice whatsoever and we insist to exercise our full rights," the top nuclear inspector, Mohamed ElBaradei, told the BBC. "And we intend to have it all the way in that fashion," ElBaradei added on CNN.
In another developments, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri complained to the U.N. secretary-general over Sunday's U.S.-British air bombings in southern Iraq. Baghdad said these raids killed four people and wounded 27.
In a letter to Kofi Annan, Sabri called for U.N. protection to prevent further attacks, saying they violated Security Council resolutions and marked an "escalation of the hostile and terrorist campaign by the United States and Britain." (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
