The ministry's spokesman Francois Rivasseau told a press conference that his country did not deny that it had exported missiles to Iraq in the past, but adding the export of missiles and their fittings had been suspended since the summer of 1990 when the United Nations imposed sanctions on Iraq for its invasion of Kuwait.

The US magazine Newsweek quoted an intelligence officer as saying that the US forces found 51 Roland II surface-to-air missiles made by Germany and France in two Iraqi military bases near Baghdad's international airport.

The reported missiles was not the same as that manufactured in France, Rivasseau noted.

As for one of the missiles stamped with the number "05-11KND2002," which Newsweek said showed its production date of 2002, Rivasseau pointed out that the production of Roland I and II stopped in 1988 and 1993 respectively.

No Roland missile could be produced in 2002, the spokesman said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 17, 2003)