Iraq test-fired a rocket engine on Sunday to show UN inspectors the Al-Samoud 2 missile could not violate a 1991 range limit set by United Nations. UN arms experts stood a few metres away to watch the test at the Falluja site, 70 km west of Baghdad. Primakov in Baghdad, to meet Iraqi officials BAGHDAD: Former Russian PM Yevgeny Primakov was in Baghdad on Sunday on an unexpected mission for President Vladimir Putin. Primakov, a West Asia expert and a long-time friend of Saddam, arrived late on Saturday and was expected to meet senior Iraqi officials before leaving later on Sunday. Russia says it sees no need to use force against Baghdad. Deal with US close, says Turkish Foreign Minister ISTANBUL: Turkey’s Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis said on Sunday a deal to let United States’ troops use the country as a base for any attack on Iraq was close, but issues such as control of northern Iraqi cities and oil fields needed agreement. Yakis said there was a ‘high probability’’ that a deal could be reached in time for a Parliamentary vote on Tuesday. (Reuters) ‘‘It is an experimental test of the missile. This is the fifth time arms inspectors see such a test,’’ Colonel Ali Jasim Hussein told Reuters TV. UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix has ordered Iraq to start destroying the missiles by March 1, saying they exceed UN limits. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan today reiterated that Iraq must destroy the missiles. Iraq said on Sunday that Blix’s demand was under ‘‘serious’’ study. Blix was today quoted as saying the Iraqis have ‘‘no credibility’’. Blix told Time that he found it ‘‘a bid odd’’ that Baghdad with ‘‘one of the best organised regimes in the Arab world’’ should claim to have no record of the destruction of Anthrax and VX nerve agent. Blix was prepared to contemplate a timeline and ultimatum for the destruction of key weapons and their building blocks. At a news conference in Tokyo, US Secretary of State Colin Powell dropped hints about Washington’s timetable for war in Iraq on Sunday, saying the UN should take vital decisions soon after a weapons inspectors’ report expected on March 7. Meanwhile in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told an anti-war rally that ‘‘it is clear Western powers want to conquer the world again’’.
