The Iraqi mission of the UN weapons inspection team leader, Mr Scott Ritter, yesterday carried out a series of "surprise" inspections and received full co-operation from Iraq, the official Iraqi news agency, INA, said.
Meanwhile the United Nations yesterday denied that the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, was not forewarned about the latest Iraqi mission of Mr Ritter, a former US marine who has been vilified by Iraq as a US spy.
A UN spokesman in New York, Mr Fred Eckhard, said Mr Annan and the chairman of the UN Special Commission, Mr Richard Butler, "consulted fully" about the inspection mission by Mr Ritter.
The Arabic daily Al-Hayat reported that Mr Butler had not informed Mr Annan in advance about the mission led by Mr Ritter, who is attempting to track down concealed Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
Mr Eckhard said Mr Annan and Mr Butler had "consulted fully over a period of time of more than one day," including over lunch on Wednesday.
Mr Annan secured an agreement in Baghdad on February 23rd calling for Iraq to open up eight so-called presidential sites to the UN inspectors, who are to be accompanied by diplomatic observers during the inspections of those sites.
"The inspection team carried out their usual activities without hindrance and with the total co-operation of the Iraqi side," INA said yesterday.
The agency said "team 227" - the group led by Mr Ritter - carried out "surprise inspections at several sites" accompanied by Iraqi officials.
Mr Ritter's team returned to its Baghdad headquarters at around 6.45 p.m. (3.45 p.m. Irish time) after nearly 10 hours of work, witnesses said.
The team returned in a convoy of 15 vehicles and an inspection lorry, and team members ignored questions about the nature of their work.
Meanwhile, Mr Annan is studying a Russian proposal for a Russian national to be a deputy to Mr Butler, a UN spokesman said.
The move is apparently aimed at providing a political counterweight to Mr Butler's US deputy, Mr Charles Duelfer.
The Russian ambassador to the UN, Mr Sergei Lavrov, wrote to Mr Annan with the proposal on Wednesday, according to diplomats who noted that it was not the first time Russia has made such a proposal.
Mr Annan "is still reviewing that letter," Mr Eckhard said yesterday.
He said that the Russian proposal was a follow-up to an emergency session of the UN Special Commission on November 21st, during which Russia proposed creating four additional posts of Unscom deputy.
The US ambassador, Mr Bill Richardson, yesterday expressed hostility to the Russian proposal for an additional deputy.