KUWAIT plans to invite UN weapons inspectors to check its claim that Iraq fired an outlawed Scud missile across its border.

Kuwait said in a letter to the Security Council that it had been the target of 11 Iraqi missiles since the war began. “At least one was a Scud missile, which Iraq possesses while continuing to deny so, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions,” it said.

Hans Blix, the chief UN weapons inspector, cast doubt on the Kuwaiti claim yesterday, saying that earlier reports of Scud firings turned out to be permitted al-Fatah missiles. “So far we have not identified or heard from the allies that anything that was proscribed would have been used,” he told reporters.

Kuwait noted that some of the missiles fired have exceeded the permitted UN range, with one reported to have travelled about 190 km (120 miles). UN inspectors accounted for all but two of the 819 imported Scud-B missiles declared by Iraq, although questions remain over 14 of these and over Iraq’s ability to produce engines.

Britain, like Kuwait, sees a continuing role for UN inspectors in verifying any weapons finds in Iraq. British diplomats suggest that any sites linked to banned weapons in Iraq would be sealed off by British troops so that the UN could inspect them and report any violation to the Security Council.

The UN inspectorate maintains its core staff in New York and can recall inspectors to Iraq if required.

Dr Blix said he was relieved that Iraq had not used prohibited chemical or biological weapons so far. “I didn’t think they would do it because, first of all, the world would say that they were liars,” he said.

“And in the second place, it would also then change the attitude of the world towards the armed conflict. The scepticism about the armed conflict would, I think, give way to one of greater understanding.”

Meanwhile, British soldiers have found a cache of about 100 Iraqi chemical protection suits and respirators at a bunker near the Rumalia oilfields in southern Iraq.

Three days ago 1,000 chemical suits were found at an Iraqi hospital about three days ago. “British forces have made significant discoveries in recent days which show categorically that Iraqi troops are prepared for the use of such horrific weapons,” Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, said.

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