The five other companies are BAE Systems of Britain, Safran of France, Finmeccanica of Italy, and US groups Northrop Grumman and United Technologies.

The withdrawal follows a recommendation from Norway's Advisory Council on Ethics, which is tasked with monitoring the ethics of companies in which Norway places its massive state Pension Fund, formerly known as the Oil Fund.

Norway's finance minister asked the central bank, which manages the fund, to sell the holdings, worth 3.3 billion kroner (416.2 million euros, 502 million dollars). They were sold last year, Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen told reporters on Thursday.

"This does not mean that there won't be other companies (excluded)... Our work will continue," she stressed.

Norway, however, did not withdraw its stake in French oil group Total, in line with the Advisory Council's recommendation. Total has been criticised by several humanitarian aid groups for its controversial business dealings in Myanmar, formerly Burma, which is run by a military junta.

"The Advisory Council... considers it likely that Total was aware of the human rights violations that were committed and directly linked to the construction of a gas pipeline between 1995 and 1998," Halvorsen said.

"However, it's not the history of a company but its current situation and future that forms the basis of a recommendation" on whether to withdraw funds, she added.

The Advisory Council said it saw "no direct link today between the human rights violations committed by the Myanmar regime and Total's activities in this country."

The Norwegian Burma Committee said it was "very disappointed" by the decision.

According to the most recent statistics available, the Norwegian state holds 0.679 percent of Total.

Norway's state Pension Fund, into which the state deposits its massive oil and gas revenues, is one of the richest funds in the world. At the end of September 2005, it was worth 1,281.1 billion kroner (161.4 billion euros, 195.2 billion dollars).

The sheer size of the fund enables Norway to exert pressure on companies to ensure that their operations are ethical.

Norway is the world's third-largest oil exporter behind Saudi Arabia and Russia.

The Scandinavian country has already withdrawn its stakes in 10 other companies, including Thales of France, European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, and US groups General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.

They are accused of helping manufacture cluster bombs, devices which are particularly lethal for civilian populations.

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