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Your support makes all the difference.UN weapons inspectors pulled out of Iraq today. A plane carrying the inspectors took off from Saddam International Airport, landing in Laranca, Cyprus where the inspectors have a rear base.
As the evacuation was underway, the Foreign Office urged all Britons except diplomatic staff to leave Bahrain and Jordan unless their presence was essential.
The Foreign Office said the threat to Britons from terrorism in the region was high and could "rise further in the event of hostilities with Iraq."
Iraq could also launch chemical and biological attacks if war broke out, the Government added. It stressed the danger of global terrorism in Jordan and cited the killing of a US diplomat last October.
The Foreign Office said it had ordered dependents of staff to leave both countries and that it was reducing staffing to a core.
The advice was issued a day after the Government urged British citizens to leave Kuwait as soon as possible, because of the threat posed by Iraq, and advised against travel to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.
Citizens remaining in Bahrain should "maintain a high level of vigilance and exercise good security practices," the statement said.
UN spokesman Hiro Ueki said 56 inspectors as well as support staff were on the plane which left Baghdad. Reporters at the airport saw about 80 people boarding buses for the plane at the end of the tarmac.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday ordered UN inspectors and support staff, humanitarian workers and UN observers along the Iraq-Kuwait border to evacuate Iraq after US threats to launch war.
Officials said that the total number of UN evacuees was about 150.
Some of the inspectors were wearing their blue UN caps and waved to reporters as they left the terminal. "It's unfortunate we have to leave now," Mr Ueki said at the airport. "I think all the inspectors and support staff have done our best."
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