Latifiyah / Latifiya
33°00'56"N 44°10'22"E
In April 1988 the US Defense Intelligence Agency indentified sixteen facilities as possibly
associated with the Iraqi offensive BW effort. [GulfLINK] As more information became available over the years, this list was reduced to four confirmed BW facilities - the Abu Ghurayb Suspect BW Production Facility, the Abu Ghurayb Clostridium Vaccine Plant, the Taji Suspect BW Production Facility, and the Salman Pak R&D/Suspect Production and Support Facility. A fifth facility, the Latifiyah BW [future] Production Facility within the Al QaQaa Military Complex just southwest
of Baghdad, was added to the list in February 1991. At these five
facilities, there were a total of 13 major buildings assessed to associated with BW R&D and production.
[GulfLINK]
The Latifiyah facility was first noted under construction in 1987, and was for the most part externally complete in late 1988. Internal fitting out had continued for some time after. All but one of the major buildings in the facility exhibit considerable air handling/processing capability. It was believed that this facility is associated with handling of botulinum toxin, probably from the weaponization aspect. Information available indicated that the area served as a botulinum toxin weapons fill facility. The BW facility is located at the eastern end of the complex which is part of an overall complex known as the Latifiya Explosives and Ammunition Plant al Qa Qaa. [GulfLINK]
During Desert Storm the Latifiyah BW facility was struck on 08 February 1991. [GulfLINK] Once the location of the Latifiyah suspect BW Production Plant was determined with certainty, twelve of the nineteen 12-frame bunkers were either severely damaged or totally destroyed. [GulfLINK]
Imagery Evaluation Report
As of 09 October 2000 the TerraServer archive included no SPIN-2 coverage of this area. The Space Imaging Carterra Archive had no coverage of this specific location.
Sources and Resources
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/iraq/facility/latifiyah.htm
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Updated Monday, October 09, 2000 7:47:23 PM
