Banned weapons material missing from Iraq

UNITED Nations experts say equipment and material that could be used to make biological or chemical weapons and banned long-range missiles has been removed from 109 sites in Iraq.

UN inspectors have been blocked from returning to Iraq since the US-led war in 2003 so they have been using satellite photos to see what happened to the sites that were subject to UN monitoring because their equipment had both civilian and military uses.

In a report to the UN Security Council obtained yesterday, acting chief weapons inspector Demetrius Perricos said imagery analysts had identified 109 sites that had been emptied of equipment to varying degrees, up from 90 reported in March.