26/10/2004

Hundreds of tons of explosives stolen in Iraq, warns UN

More than 340 tons of high explosives that had been subject to UN monitoring were either stolen or looted from a government facility in Iraq, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has reported.

In a letter to the Security Council, IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei said the Iraqi authorities informed the agency on October 10 that explosives lost last year had resulted from "looting of the governmental installations due to lack of security".

After confirming the Iraqi communication, the IAEA then notified the US-led multinational force (MNF) - which has responsibility for security in Iraq - about the matter five days later on 15 October.

The missing explosives include 195 metric tons of HMX that had been under IAEA seal, as well as 141 tons of RDX and almost six tons of PETN, both subject to regular monitoring of stock levels, Mr ElBaradei said.

The IAEA last verified the presence of those stockpiles in January 2003.

(gmcg/sp)

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