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Iraqi officials began talks in Baghdad Saturday with UN arms inspectors on destroying the banned Al-Samoud 2 missiles, Iraqi sources said.
The talks took place at the headquarters of the Iraqi Monitoring Directorate in Baghdad between Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's adviser Amir al-Saadi and UN inspectors.
They will discuss the technical details on how to destroy the missiles, according to the sources.
Claiming that the missiles' range exceeds the 150 km limit set in UN resolutions, chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix gave Iraq until March 1 to begin destroying the rockets.
Under increasing international pressure, Iraq on Thursday softened its tough stance and agreed to begin destroying a stockpile of Al-Samoud 2 missiles and their components.
The move is lauded by the international community as a significant step for Iraq to cooperate fully with the UN weapons inspectors so to avoid a looming US-led war on this oil-rich country.
(Xinhua News Agency March 1, 2003)
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