IAAE: hundreds of tons of explosives lost in Iraq

The International Agency for Atomic Energy (IAAE ) stressed that hundreds of tons of traditional explosives were missing from the Iraqi military arsenal that used to be under the rule of the toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

The spokeswoman for the director general of the agency Mohamed ElBaradei said in press statements that ElBaradei was due to have notified on Monday ( yesterday) the UN security council on the losses of these amounts.

She explained that the IAAE received on October 10th a notification from the Iraqi ministry of sciences and technologies saying that some 350 tons of highly explosive material had disappeared. She continued that the Iraqis notified the agency that these items were exposed to theft operations because of the lack of security in the government's establishments and it is not known what happened to those items.

On Monday, the New York Times said that some 380 tons material that can be turned into bombs were lost from al-Qaqa' military position.