THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Libya has destroyed 3,300 bombs capable of delivering chemical payloads and is set to give a full account of its stockpiles, the chief watchdog organization said Thursday.
Bulldozers crushed the bombs after each was disarmed and inventoried "under stringent international verification," the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said.
The week-long project was completed Wednesday, the OPCW said.
On Friday, a Libyan envoy will hand over to OPCW Director-General Rogelio Pfirter a full declaration of the country's chemical weapons, its production capacity and any industrial activity that could be involved with making outlawed weapons, as well as a plan for destroying the banned material, the organization said.
It was not clear how much of Libya's declaration will be made public.
Libya agreed in December to scrap its programs to develop weapons of mass destruction under U.S., British and United Nations supervision in return for a restoration of diplomatic ties with Washington. Last week, Washington lifted a 23-year restriction on travel to the north African state, which it had branded a terrorist state.
Pfirter said Libya was running ahead of the schedule outlined in the Chemical Weapons Convention, and praised the country's "cooperative spirit of compliance."
By SEAN YOONG, Associated Press Writer
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi denied Thursday that his government whitewashed an investigation of Malaysia's role in a worldwide nuclear black market, and said he wasn't worried the issue would hurt him in upcoming elections.
The vote, which Abdullah called Wednesday, will be the first since former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad retired in October. The Islamic opposition has promised to focus on the nuclear network during its campaign for the election, expected by the end of March.
The government faces allegations that a Malaysian company owned by Abdullah's son played a key role in a nuclear black market, led the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, to traffic nuclear technology and know-how to Libya, Iran and North Korea.
A police investigation cleared Scomi Precision Engineering of knowingly making centrifuge components that were seized in October in the Mediterranean en route to Libya.
The Islamic opposition claims the government went easy on Abdullah's son, even while the prime minister wages a very public anti-corruption campaign. The opposition also says the government has detained about 70 terror suspects over the past three years without trial.
Badawi, speaking publicly for the first time since calling the elections, said he said he wasn't troubled by the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party's allegations.
"I am not worried at all," Abdullah told reporters. "I think PAS just wants to find something to attack me and embarrass me. They are trying to resort to character assassination. They have nothing else to capitalize on."
Abdullah said police had investigated the trafficking case as "best they could" and that the results would be given to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
"They will scrutinize it," Abdullah said. "They are not fools. They cannot be misled."
A top U.S. nonproliferation envoy met Malaysian leaders this week to urge this Southeast Asian country to tighten export regulations and plug criminal loopholes to prevent trafficking.
Abdullah confirmed that he met John Stern Wolf, the assistant secretary for the State Department's non-proliferation bureau.
"He did not ask for strict controls," Abdullah said. "He is aware that we were already looking into it, even before this. Of course, we need time. It's not something that can easily be resolved."
Badawi called the elections in an apparent bid to solidify control of his 14-party coalition and reverse gains that the Islamic party made in a 1999 vote. The coalition, which has 152 of 193 seats in parliament, is almost certain to extend its 50-year grip on power. The date for the elections is to be announced Friday.