Reporters visit nuclear site construction

IRAQ insisted yesterday that construction at a nuclear site was for peaceful research, continuing a campaign to prove its enemies are lying to build a case for military action against Saddam Hussein.

Reporters were escorted to the site, al-Twaitha, 25 miles south of Baghdad. The site was destroyed twice, first by the Israelis in 1981 and then by the allies during the 1991 Gulf War, according to Iraqi officials.

It was the fifth such visit in four weeks. Iraqi authorities have taken reporters to what were described as a livestock vaccination laboratory, a complex of food warehouses, an insecticide plant and a fertiliser factory.