U.N. inspectors fanned out on the Baghdad University campus Tuesday, a day after their biological weapons experts searched a genetics institute on the campus.
Classes on the campus in southern Baghdad continued as normal as reporters saw at least eight inspectors enter several labs in the medical and biotechnology departments. The inspectors spent about three hours at the university.
On Monday, U.N. experts inspected the entire building housing the university's Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, according to a U.N. statement quoted by AP.
The inspectors described the institute as a biotechnology and genetic engineering research and training center and a "new site included in the recent Iraqi declarations."
Meanwhile, the British Ministry of Defense dismissed as speculative a report Tuesday that Britain has hired merchant ships to transport tanks and troops for an attack on Iraq.
The Sun tabloid newspaper reported that the government would declare Tuesday it had hired merchant ships to transport British forces. The report, which cited no sources, said 300,000 U.S. and British troops would be dispatched to Iraq.
Commenting on the report, the Ministry of Defense insisted military action against Iraq was not imminent. "This is purely speculative. Military action is neither imminent nor inevitable and the diplomatic route is still being pursued," the ministry said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
