United Nations chief weapons inspector Hans Blix on Friday told the Security Council there is no evidence to support US claims that Iraq is hiding banned weapons in mobile containers.

Blix told the Security Council that inspectors had looked into several mobile facilities and large containers with seed processing equipment before reaching the conclusion that there was no proscribed activity.

Also, inspectors did not find any evidence of underground chemical or biological weapons production or storage facilities in Iraq, Blix said .

Welcoming Iraq's accelerated cooperation since January, Blix said a 'sober judgement' had to be made to assess its value and it would have to be measured against unresolved disarmament questions.

He said it would take months to finish the disarmament compliance of Iraq.

Terming the report as a 'catalogue of non-cooperation', US Secretary of State Colin Powell told the council that the 'small steps' taken by Iraq cannot be described as genuine initiatives as Baghdad's compliance was neither by its own will nor free.

Powell demanded a vote on the second resolution moved by the US and Britain 'in the very near future'. 

"The clock continues to tick and the consequences of Saddam Hussein's continued refusal to disarm will be very,
very real. Now is the time to tell Saddam that the clock has not been stopped by his stratagems and machinations," he said.

"What is needed is Iraq declaring all its prohibited weapons and not more inspectors or more time," he asserted adding inspectors are expected to verify and not look under every rock or every cave. 

"Colleagues, now is the time for the council to send a clear message to Saddam that we have not been taken in by his transparent tactics," he said asking the world body not to allow the Iraqi leader to 'fracture' their resolve.

"Nobody wants war, but it is clear that the limited progress we have seen come from the presence of a large military force," Powell told the meeting attended by the foreign ministers of the 15-member body.