Iraq destroyed more banned Al-Samoud 2 missiles and was to sit down for talks on germ weapons Sunday, apparently hoping last-minute compliance with UN disarmament demands could avert a seemingly unavoidable US-led war.

Teams of UN experts drove to two sites on Baghdad's outskirts to supervise the bulldozing of the prohibited systems, as the first concrete technical talks were due to start here late Sunday with newly-arrived UN inspectors to quantify the biological and chemical weapons Baghdad says it destroyed.

"Destruction of six missiles started at 9:00 am (0600 GMT) at Al-Taji," a huge military complex, some 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of Baghdad, said Uday al-Tai, director general of the information ministry.

A casting chamber used in the manufacture of the missiles was also to be destroyed at Al-Rashid, south of the Iraqi capital, Tai told AFP.

UN weapons inspectors' spokesman Hiro Ueki confirmed that more Al-Samoud 2 missiles were to be destroyed at Al-Taji and one casting chamber was to be scrapped at the Al-Rashid facility.

Asked about the number of missiles to be destroyed, Ueki said he did not want to comment "before our team of inspectors returns back and reports to us."

Iraq on Saturday destroyed the first four of its banned Al-Samoud 2 missiles in a six-hour operation, the first since UN chief inspector Hans Blix ruled earlier this month the missiles exceeded the 150-kilometre (93-mile) range allowed under UN disarmament terms and must be scrapped.

Ueki said Saturday's destruction process was "successful in the end".

Blix's deputy Dimitri Perricos spent several hours at the Al-Taji facility Saturday afternoon following technical talks with senior Iraqi officials on the modalities of the destruction of the missiles.

Perricos said Saturday there was no deadline for the destruction of the missiles, adding that he hoped the work would be completed within two weeks.

Iraqi authorities said there are about 100 Al-Samoud 2 missiles. Of those, about 73 have been delivered to the army, according to diplomats.

UN inspectors recently arrived in Baghdad were to hold "a technical meeting on the question of anthrax and VX at 7:00 pm (1600 GMT) to discuss the Iraqi proposal to quantify the amount of anthrax and VX that they claim to have unilaterally destroyed in July 1991," Ueki said.

Meanwhile, Ankara's rulers and US war planners on Sunday assessed the Turkish parliament's shock refusal to allow US troops to deploy in Turkey amid signs that war on Iraq could be less than three weeks away regardless of military or diplomatic setbacks.

More than 240,000 US, British and Australian troops were massed in the Gulf awaiting orders to strike Iraq, accused of failing to give up weapons of mass destruction.

More indications emerged that an attack was imminent amid intensive lobbying efforts to win UN Security Council approval for military action and reports that allied forces are prepared to strike with or without a UN green light and are undeterred by the setback with Turkey.