Hundreds of Tons of Explosives Missing From Iraq

Roughly 350 tons of conventional explosives that could be used to detonate nuclear weapons have disappeared from the former al-Qaqaa military facility in Iraq, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed today (see GSN, Oct. 15).

The Iraqi Science and Technology Ministry informed the agency on Oct. 10 that the explosives were missing, IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said.

“Upon receiving the declaration on Oct. 10, we first took measures to authenticate it,” Fleming said. “Then on Oct. 15, we informed the multinational forces through the U.S. government with the request for it to take any appropriate action in cooperation with Iraq’s interim government.”

IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei is set to report the missing explosives to the U.N. Security Council today, Fleming said.

“We do not know what happened to the explosives or when they were looted,” she said (William Kole, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Oct. 25).

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