October 12, 2003	Sunday	Sha'aban 15, 1424

BERLIN, Oct 11: Israel’s spy agency Mossad has drawn up pre-emptive attack plans on six sites in Iran it suspects are being used to prepare nuclear weapons, Der Spiegel magazine says in its Monday edition, citing Israeli security officials.

A special Mossad unit received orders two months ago to prepare plans for attacks on six targets, the magazine said.

Complete destruction of the targets by F-16 fighter bombers was deemed achievable by Mossad, it said.

Israel, which is accused by Arab neighbours of possessing nuclear weapons of its own, has come to regard Iran as its chief military threat since the downfall of Saddam Hussein’s government in Iraq.

The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has imposed an Oct 31 deadline on Iran to prove it is not secretly developing nuclear weapons and also urged it to suspend enriching uranium, which the United States claims could be used to make nuclear bombs. —AFP