Empty chemical shells found in Iraq

Ueki did not expand on the significance of the find during an inspection of the Ukhaider Ammunition Storage Area, which lies 120 km south of Baghdad. ‘‘During the course of their inspection, the team discovered 11 empty 122 mm chemical warheads and one warhead that requires further evaluation,’’ he said. The team had gone there to view a large group of bunkers built in the late 1990s.

The inspectors complained that Iraq has failed to provide evidence of action it says it took to destroy stocks of banned weapons after previous UN teams left in 1998.

UN weapons chief Hans Blix said Iraq must prove it has destroyed banned weapons and let its scientists answer questions freely to defuse what he called a ‘‘very dangerous’’ situation.

With Washington sounding impatient, Blix and International Atomic Energy Agency director Mohamed El Baradei embarked on a four-day diplomatic tour that will end in Baghdad on Sunday.

On the eve of Friday’s 12th anniversary of the US-led 1991 Gulf War that drove Iraqi troops from Kuwait, all sides agreed war was not inevitable. But Blix and El Baradei said to avoid it, Iraq must be ‘‘proactive’’. Iraqi presidential adviser Amir al-Saadi said his country was ready to answer any question. Blix and ElBaradei are due to brief the UN Security Council on January 27.

Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts to avoid war intensified with Russia, a veto-holding member of the Security Council, dispatching Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov to Baghdad on Thursday. (Reuters)