United Nations weapons experts visited more suspect sites in Iraq today, taking no break for the New Year's Day holiday.
UN sources said the experts were also preparing to start their first aerial inspections by helicopters soon. Iraqi officials said the inspectors had discussed the flights with Iraqi authorities.
The inspectors would also set up a permanent base in the northern town of Mosul on Saturday to facilitate inspections in north Iraq, the UN sources said. Witnesses said inspection teams from the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) drove to at least two sites near Baghdad.
An UNMOVIC chemical team visited Al Majd Company facilities, including warehouses and a vehicle repair workshop, south of Baghdad. Another team inspected al-Hareth facility in Taji north of the capital.
Al Majd is run by Iraq's Military Industrialisation Commission that oversees development and production of weapons and ammunitions.
The inspectors had swooped on eight suspect sites in central Iraq yesterday.
Inspections have gone largely smoothly since the experts resumed work on November 27th after a four-year gap, but Iraqi chiefs of visited facilities have in recent days complained about the behaviour of the inspectors.
Iraq has invited chief UN weapons inspector Mr Hans Blix to visit Baghdad to "review cooperation" in January, before the inspectors report back to the Security Council.
A unanimous Security Council resolution passed in November gave Baghdad a final chance to reveal all details of its weapons programmes, as required by resolutions going back to the 1991 Gulf War, or face "serious consequences".