"The Nicaraguan arsenal of portable anti-aircraft missiles, known as SA-7s, is kept under strict security, inventoried on site three times by specialists of different US government agencies," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Managua was responding to a US newspaper report Thursday that the Russian-made hand-held missile seized from private arms dealers in Managua on January 11 may have come from a secret military stockpile.

The Washington Times said that "US officials think the missiles are being provided by elements of the Nicaraguan military."

In November 2004 Nicaragua agreed to destroy its stockpile of the missiles -- estimated at some 1,000 -- which the US fears could fall into terrorists' hands.

The authorities "affirm that the device does not belong to the state of Nicaragua's inventory," the statement said.

The newspaper report suggested some 80 missiles had disappeared from the inventory for black market sale.

"There are allegations or suspicions that there might be some stockpile that is held by the military or other parties," US State Deaprtment spokesman Richard Boucher said Thursday in Washington.

"We have asked the government of Nicaragua to look into that and to investigate and find out whether indeed there might be some of these that have gone missing or might be in the wrong hands," Boucher said.

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