UN arms inspectors on Thursday began searches for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq for the second day after a four-year suspension.
The inspection team from the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), led by Dimitri Perricos, carried out their second-day inspections at a vaccine laboratory in Dora, about 30 km south of Baghdad, searching for biological and chemical weapons and long-range missiles.
Another team of arms experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) went into the Nasir, or Victory, factory, about 30 km north of Baghdad.
They were in charge of searching for Iraq's banned nuclear programs.
The inspectors left their headquarters at 8:30 a.m. local time (0530 GMT) in white Nissan four-wheel-drive cars and immediately divided into two groups.
They were accompanied by officials from Iraq's National Monitoring Directorate in separate cars and followed by dozens of reporters who had waited outside the former Canal Hotel.
Both teams were allowed into the sites shortly after their arrival, but the chasing reporters were barred from entering the compounds.
(Xinhua News Agency November 29, 2002)
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