BERLIN, June 22 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Egypt is hoping to extract uranium from the Sinai Peninsula with Chinese help with the aim of enriching it and making long-range missiles, Die Welt reported Saturday quoting western intelligence sources.

The newspaper said that Cairo denies such plans and that the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it was unaware of such developments.

But the paper said there were increasing signs that Cairo was seeking to build nuclear weapons.

The report carried a picture of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on his last official visit to China in January, during which, according to Die Welt, a cooperation accord between the two countries was signed on the "peaceful use of atomic energy."

The deal included Chinese help in extracting uranium from the Sinai Peninsula, which forms Egypt's border with Israel, the paper said.

The paper also said that Egypt is trying to buy uranium from African countries, especially the Niger, adding that many western countries are suspecting that Egypt is cooperating with North Korea since late 90s.

The western countries also worry about information provided by their intelligences about Egypt’s attempts to buy No. Dung missiles, which can reach area as far as 1300 Km from North Korea, which the U.S. has listed as one of the countries in U.S. President George W. Bush's "axis of evil".

The paper said the Mubarak has said in 1998 that Egypt would be provided with nuclear power if there is need to do that.

In addition, an Egyptian journalist wrote an article published in the issue of May, 21, 2002, in the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram, urging Mubarak to reconsider his current policies regarding the refusal of acquiring nuclear weapons to defend Egypt in case of war, the paper said.

Such claims are totally false and unfounded, said Dr. Fawzi Hamad, former head of the Egyptian nuclear power agency, to IslamOnline.

Egypt is one of the first countries who signed and ratified in 1990 the treaty of banning the spread of nuclear weapons, he added.

Egypt is a country that honor the agreements it signs, he said, adding that since then, Egypt has been calling for the establishment of a region free of weapons of mass destruction.

All the Egyptian constructions in the area of Wadi Al-Natron are under the surveillance of the international agency for nuclear power, he said.