IRAQ: UN inspectors destroy mustard gas, artillery shells

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Att.Editors: The following item is from the Qatar News Agency (QNA)

BAGHDAD, Feb 13 2003 (IPS) - UN weapons inspectors continued Thursday the destruction of mustard gas canisters and artillery shells left over from the previous round of weapons inspections, a UN spokesman said in Baghdad.

Destruction of ten 155-millimeter artillery shells and four canisters of mustard gas, which had been scheduled to be destroyed in 1998 before weapons inspections were terminated, was being carried out at the al-Muthanna complex, 100 km north of Baghdad, UNMOVIC spokesman Hiro Ueki said.

Inspection teams were also active at seven other sites today, including a heliport 30 kilometers northeast of the capital which the Iraqi authorities claimed was for agricultural use.

Other teams were examining the Falluja weapons complex 80 km west of Baghdad and a military firing range near the northern city of Mosul.