IRAQ scrapped six more banned al-Samoud 2 missiles and three warheads yesterday, and UN inspectors searched for bombs capable of delivering biological weapons Baghdad says were destroyed and buried.

SADDAM HUSSEIN yesterday accused the US of trying to enslave Arabs and said Iraq will defeat any invaders, even as he continued to destroy his Al Samoud 2 missile system in hopes of averting a war.

Saddam Hussein has said his country will defeat any invaders and accused US President George Bush of trying to turn Arabs into slaves.

NORTH of Baghdad yesterday, drivers climbed onto yellow bulldozers to pulverise missiles and warheads. To the south, workers donned welding gear and used cutting torches to dismember giant metal casting chambers.

Iraq today said it will submit a proposal to UN weapons inspectors for verifying the destruction of its deadly biological and chemical weapons.

United Nations weapons inspectors stepped up the destruction of banned missiles today, returning to a military compound to supervise the disposal of six Al Samoud 2 rockets, an Iraqi official said.

Iraq said it would destroy four Al Samoud 2 missiles today, as ordered by UN weapons inspectors.

UN weapons inspectors have conducted a private interview with an Iraqi biologist, the first such interview since February 7, the inspectors said today.

Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein says he would rather die than leave his country, dismissing suggestions by US and Arab leaders that he could go into exile to avoid war.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has declared that Baghdad wants peace – but not at the price of its dignity and independence.

SADDAM HUSSEIN yesterday declared Iraq wants peace — but not at the price of its dignity and independence.

UN INSPECTORS yesterday found 11 empty chemical warheads in “excellent” condition at an Iraqi ammunition storage area where they were inspecting bunkers built in the late 1990s.

UN inspectors today found 11 empty chemical warheads in “excellent” condition at an Iraqi ammunition storage area where they were inspecting bunkers built in the late 1990s.

A SENIOR Iraqi official yesterday accused the US and Britain of preparing a "devastating" war against Iraq to subjugate the Middle East as coalition jets struck air defence targets in the south in the second attack this week.

UN inspectors hunting for banned weapons of mass destruction that Iraq may be hiding visited a missile plant south of Baghdad that had aroused US suspicions.

UN experts searched a geological survey facility in Baghdad and a pesticides factory to the northwest yesterday, pursuing a hunt for banned weapons after Iraq handed over a declaration of its arms programmes.

International weapons hunters crossed a threshold today, paying an unannounced visit to a military post once declared “sensitive” and restricted by the Iraqi government.

THE first team of UN inspectors landed in Iraq yesterday to resume the hunt for chemical, biological and/or nuclear arms programmes.

The first team of UN inspectors landed in Iraq today to take up the hunt for chemical, biological or nuclear arms programs, a search whose outcome could help determine the future of peace in the Middle East.