Search for banned weapons continues

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.

As Iraq's 12,000-page dossier on its alleged doomsday weapons headed to New York and Vienna for analysis, 25 UN arms experts flew to Baghdad to reinforce the inspection force.

A team from the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) drove earlier in the day to a large military base at Fallujah, 50 km northwest of Baghdad, and entered a pesticides factory in its vicinity.