German Firm Tied to Scud Launchers

BONN —  A German weekly reported Sunday that the giant Daimler-Benz concern had sold 20 trucks to Iraq that had been modified to serve as mobile launching ramps for Scud missiles.

Der Spiegel said the last of the 20 trucks ordered by Iraq were sent to Baghdad in July, a few weeks before Iraq’s Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait. The weekly said the trucks had originally been offered to Iraq as tank transporters but were modified by another German firm for the transport and firing of missiles.

Daimler-Benz officials had rejected claims of involvement in illegal exports on Thursday, after more than 100 police, customs and internal revenue officials searched offices of the giant company and its Mercedes-Benz subsidiary.