The third day of UN inspections in Iraq started with a visit to a weapons production facility and a missile base

The third day of inspections conducted by an international team in Iraq started with a visit to a weapons production facility and a missile base. One group of IAEA inspectors will visit "Umm Al-Maarik" (mother of all battles) factory 25 km to the south of Baghdad, which belongs to the Iraqi Ministry of War Industry. The second group, consisting of UNMOVIC representatives, will visit a missile base in the city of Ballad 70 km north of Baghdad.

During first two days, UN inspectors visited a series of installations, which have been inspected during 1991-1998. Those installations were mentioned in the so-called "Blair's Dossier" as "reconstructed" and were linked to Iraqi WMD production program. However, a new inspection confirmed that those facilities are not operational at this point.

The leaders of both inspection teams (UNMOVIC and the IAEA) pointed out that during the first two days the Iraqi side fully cooperated with them in the process of inspections. UN inspectors were granted access to all installations immediately and without restrictions.