All 136 UN weapons inspectors flew out of Baghdad's Saddam International airport after receiving orders to quit Iraq ahead of an imminent war, an AFP correspondent reported.

A total of 56 experts and 80 support staff from the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were aboard the Boeing 727 to Cyprus.

UN sources said a second flight, a Hercules C130 transport, would shortly due to take other UN staff to a rear base at Larnaca, Cyrpus, from where the disarmament inspectors who resumed work in Iraq in November after a four-year break.

"We have to leave, we are all leaving," inspectors' spokesman Hiro Ueki said.

Secretary General Kofi Annan on Monday ordered the evacuation of the UN inspectors and humanitarian staff from Iraq and suspended the oil-for-food programme allowing Baghdad to export oil in return for essential supplies.

US President George W. Bush on Monday night gave President Saddam Hussein 48 hours to leave the country or face destruction.