21.   INA quoted the spokesman as saying that the oil ministry also is actively trying to finalize deals to buy spare parts for its battered oil industry.

22.   INA quoted the spokesman as saying that the release was ordered by President Saddam Hussein.

23.   Indian news agencies quoted a government spokesman as accusing the militants of setting the blaze.

24.   Interfax quoted a Chechen defense spokesman as blaming an aerial assault, but Chechen fighters said there had been no bombing Friday.

25.   Iran radio quoted an unnamed judiciary spokesman as saying police had made some arrests in the five slayings.

26.   It also quoted a United Nations spokesman as denying weapons were intentionally returned, and saying the weapons had been rendered useless anyway.

27.   Interfax quoted a Chechen defense spokesman as blaming an aerial assault, but fighters said there had been no bombing Friday.

28.   Interfax quoted a ministry spokesman as saying the kidnapping of two Russian Orthodox priests in Chechnya earlier this week was part of that plan.

29.   It identified the spokesman as Jakup Krasnici, a teacher from Negrovce, a village in the Drenica region, the ethnic Albanian daily Koha Ditore reported.

30.   It quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as saying that Iran must allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to meet with Iraqi POWs to receive their mail.