Ereli said coalition forces have cleared 10, 033 weapons caches and destroyed 243, 000 tons of munitions.

CNN: Tons of Iraq explosives missing

State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said the US wanted to put any discord with Italy behind it.

BBC: NEWS | Europe | Disagreement on Italy agent death

Mr Ereli said the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, had raised the men's case on her last visit to Saudi Arabia.

BBC: NEWS | Middle East | US hails Saudi dissidents' pardon

"These reports are of concern, " deputy US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said of the information contained in the Alamoudi case.

BBC: Crown Prince Abdullah

Ereli said coalition forces searched 32 bunkers and 87 other buildings at the Al Qaqaa facility after the war for weapons of mass destruction.

CNN: Tons of Iraq explosives missing

Deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said the multinational force in Iraq and the Bush administration's Iraq Survey Group had been ordered to investigate the disappearance of the explosives.

CNN: Tons of Iraq explosives missing