The Hindu : International : Explosives missing in Iraq: IAEA

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2004

International

International

Explosives missing in Iraq: IAEA

VIENNA, OCT. 25. Several hundred tonnes of conventional explosives are missing from a former Iraqi military facility that once played a key role in Saddam Hussein's efforts to build a nuclear bomb, the U.N. nuclear agency confirmed Monday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, will report the materials' disappearance to the U.N. Security Council later on Monday, a spokeswoman told The Associated Press.

``On Oct. 10, the IAEA received a declaration from the Iraqi Ministry of Science and Technology informing us that approximately 350 (metric) tonnes of high explosive material had gone missing,'' she said.

``The most immediate concern here is that these explosives could have fallen into the wrong hands,'' she told the AP.

In Washington, Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry's campaign said the Bush administration ``must answer for what may be the most grave and catastrophic mistake in a tragic series of blunders in Iraq.''

``How did they fail to secure ... tonnes of known, deadly explosives despite clear warnings from the International Atomic Energy Agency to do so?'' a senior Kerry adviser, Joe Lockhart, said in a statement.

The Iraqis told the nuclear agency the materials had been stolen and looted because of a lack of security at governmental installations, the IAEA said.

``We do not know what happened to the explosives or when they were looted.''— AP

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