Iraq said most of the helicopters used by United Nations weapons inspectors were flown out to Syria today en route to Cyprus after a Western insurance company suspended its cover for the aircraft.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday pledged to provide “straightforward, sober and compelling” proof this week that Iraq was hiding banned weapons from United Nations inspectors in violation of UN demands.

Weapons inspectors were today banned from entering locked rooms in Iraq’s Communicable Disease Control Centre and were forced to use its hotline to higher Baghdad authorities for the first time.

UN weapons inspectors in Iraq today visited a factory that made missile components and an alcohol plant on the outskirts of the capital Baghdad.