The US yesterday conceded that nuclear-related material had been removed from Iraq after the war, but claimed the situation had been brought under control.

The statement came a day after the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog, warned that the dismantlement of Iraqi nuclear sites, and the subsequent disappearance of dual-use equipment and other nuclear material, could be of "proliferation significance". Richard Boucher, State Department spokesman, accepted there had been "extensive and widespread looting after the war" and that materials had been removed and exported from Iraq. But he asserted that coalition forces moved quickly to stem the looting of Iraq's Tuwaitha nuclear facility, and that "since then, there has been renewed controls put in place".