DHAKA: The OPCW, the body overseeing destruction of Syria`s chemical weapons, has won the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Nobel Committee said it was in honour of the OPCW`s "extensive work to eliminate chemical weapons".

The Hague-based Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was established to enforce the 1997 Chemical Weapons convention.

It recently sent inspectors to carry out the dismantling of Syria`s stockpile of chemical weapons.

The watchdog picks up a gold medal and 8m Swedish kronor ($1.25m; £780,000) as winner of the most coveted of the Nobel honours.

Pakistani schoolgirl campaigner Malala Yousafzai and gynaecologist Denis Mukwege of the Democratic Republic of Congo had been tipped as favourites to take the award.

Source: BBC
BDST: 1511 HRS, OCT 11, 2013
RS/RIS