United Nations: Iraq's massive declaration running into over 12,000 pages includes a list of companies and countries from which it imported materials for building weapons of mass destruction (WMD) that could embarrass United Nations (UN) member states, including some Security Council members, sources said.

It lists what materials it procured and from where for its nuclear, chemical and biological programmes as also foreign assistance it got for these projects, they said.

Apparently, Iraq would have tried to account for all material it imported. But in the process, it would have disclosed of the names of companies and countries in which they are located.

Foreign suppliers had given information about materials supplied by them to inspectors on the condition that their names would not be disclosed. But their names might no longer remain secret once all council members get the declaration.

For Iraq, it was necessary to disclose the sources of the materials as it was unsure how much the United States knows and any suppression of information might be considered breach of the council resolution.

The index to the report does not identify the companies and suppliers and it is unclear whether inspectors would edit out this information when they distribute the report to the ten non-permanent members of the council, the sources said.

The nine-page index shows that it contains data and efforts made by Iraq to produce nuclear, chemical and biological weapons as also a radiation bomb and long-range missiles. The radiation bomb project was discovered during the last inspections, which ended in 1998.

PTI