Hundreds of tons of high explosives are missing from a former Iraqi military facility, the United Nations (U.N.) nuclear watchdog said on Monday.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei is expected to report the missing explosives to the U.N. Security Council on Monday, a spokesperson told the Associated Press.

Melissa Fleming said the Iraqi Ministry of Science and Technology had reported about 350 tonnes of material as missing from a former Al Qaqaa military installation. The 380 tons is the U.S. equivalent of the figure of 350 metric tons mentioned by the Iraqis, the IAEA said.

'We do not know what happened to the explosives or when they were looted,' said Fleming. 'Mr. ElBaradei wanted to give them some time to recover the explosives before reporting this loss to the Security Council, but since it's now out, ElBaradei plans to inform the Security Council today.'

Fleming said the Iraqis reported the missing explosives on Oct. 10. ElBaradei was hoping to give them time to find the explosives, but after the press reports, decided to report to the Security Council now.

The Loot
Included in the missing material are HMX and RDX, the New York Times reported on Monday. Those explosives can be used to demolish buildings and down jetliners, but also to produce warheads for missiles and detonate nuclear weapons.

HMX and RDX are key ingredients in plastic explosives such as C-4 and Semtex — substances so powerful that Libyan terrorists needed just 1 pound to blow up Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, killing 170 people.

HMX is also used in various kinds of explosives and rocket fuels, while RDX is considered the most powerful of the high explosives in military use.

Pointing Fingers on the Campaign Trail
In Washington, Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry's campaign said the Bush administration 'must answer for what may be the most grave and catastrophic mistake in a tragic series of blunders in Iraq.'

'How did they fail to secure ... tons of known, deadly explosives despite clear warnings from the International Atomic Energy Agency to do so?' senior Kerry adviser Joe Lockhart said in a statement. 'The most immediate concern here is that these explosives could have fallen into the wrong hands.'

President Bush's national security adviser, Condoleeza Rice, was informed of the missing explosives in the past month, the report said. It said Iraq's interim government recently warned the United States and U.N. nuclear inspectors that the explosives had vanished.

'The Bush administration knew where this stockpile was, but took no action to secure the site,” Lockhart said. “They were urgently and specifically informed that terrorists could be helping themselves to the most dangerous explosives bonanza in history, but nothing was done to prevent it from happening.'

Before the U.S. invasion of Iraq last year, the IAEA had been keeping tabs on the HMX and RDX stockpiles, which are so-called 'dual-use' explosives because they can be used in nuclear weapons. The Times said they disappeared after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq last year.

Saddam’s Control
The missing explosives were housed in a former Iraqi military facility that once played a key role in Saddam Hussein's efforts to build a nuclear bomb, the U.N. nuclear agency confirmed Monday.

The former Iraqi leader was known to have used the site to make conventional warheads, and IAEA inspectors dismantled parts of his nuclear program there before the 1991 Gulf War. The experts also oversaw the destruction of Iraq's chemical and biological weapons.

The nuclear agency pulled out of Iraq in 1998, and by the time it returned in 2002, it confirmed that 35 tons of HMX that had been placed under IAEA seal were missing. Some wonder whether the missing explosives are now being used in insurgent attacks against the forces of the U.S.-led coalition.

The Al Qaqaa facility, a large military installation located 30 miles south of Baghdad, has been under U.S. military control since the war, but has repeatedly been looted.

'This material was monitored and controlled by U.N. inspectors before the invasion of Iraq. Thanks to the stunning incompetence of the Bush administration, we now have no idea where it is,' Lockhart said. He demanded the White House explain 'why they failed to safeguard these explosives and keep them out of the hands of our enemies.'