Dawrah PPL 33°49'N 44°42'E Zubaydah RSTN 32°40'N 45°31'EThe Daura Foot and Mouth Disease Vaccine Facility, also known as Al Manal. This site was taken over by the BW program in fall 1990. The site conducted initial research on viral warfare agents including: haemorraghic conjunctivitis, human rota virus, and camelpox. The site was also used to produce thousands of litres of botulinum toxin. Approximately 55 people worked unimpeded on this project throughout the Gulf War until at least 1992. Aside from research and development of the virus, experiments were conducted to simulate explosive dissemination from artillery shells and bombs. Al-Mana Al is located off the al-Dawrah expressway, south of the al-Rashid army barracks, and near an oil refinery. Located in Southeastern outskirts of Baghdad, the site is approximately 15 minutes south of Baghdad. Al-Mana Al was built in a farm area which can be reached by traveling approximately 20-25 minutes east on the dirt road opposite the Zubaydah/Dawrah city exit of the Dawrah expressway.)
The al-Mana facility consists of three separate complexes. The first, which is nearest to the road, has a sign indicating that it belongs to Iraq's ministry of agriculture. The main door faces the street
The second complex is separated from the main building by a dirt area and is referred to as the "zone." This building contains laboratories which are used for research and development, animal experiments, and work on small scale biological warfare (BW) agent dissemination using explosives or aerosols experiments which simulated explosive conditions subjected the virus to heat, cold, and pressure.
The third set of buildings is located behind the second. These buildings house the power generators, heating pumps, and pure water storage containers used to support experiments in the zone.
