Iraqi shells tested for gas

REUTERS NEWS AGENCY

BAGHDAD — Danish troops have found dozens of mortar rounds buried in Iraq, which initial chemical-weapons tests show could contain blister gas, the Danish army said yesterday.

The tests were taken after Danish troops found 36 120-mm mortar rounds on Friday in southern Iraq. The Danish army said the rounds had been buried for at least 10 years.

“All the instruments showed indications of the same type of chemical compound, namely blister gas,” the Danish Army Operational Command said on its Web site.

“However, this will not be confirmed until the final tests are available,” it said in a statement. Results of the final tests are likely to be ready in about two days.

Blister gas, an illegal weapon that ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein said he had destroyed, was extensively used against Iranians during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.

Although it can kill if it enters the lungs, it is used mainly to weaken infantry by making the skin break out in excruciatingly painful blisters.

Four different types of instruments were used on three of the mortar rounds, the army said in its statement, adding that 100 more rounds could be buried at the site.

Icelandic bomb specialists working with the Danish soldiers said the rounds had been found concealed in road construction, Iceland’s Foreign Ministry said.

It said a mobile U.S. chemical-research laboratory had been sent to help.

After Danish troops found the suspicious mortar shells, they asked British specialists to analyze them, a Danish official had said earlier. “The first inspections have shown that the mortars contain some liquid,” he said.

In Baghdad, the U.S. military said the mortar rounds were found buried 45 miles south of Amarah, north of Basra.

“Most were wrapped in plastic bags, and some were leaking,” Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt told a news conference, adding that it was likely the weapons were left over from the Iran-Iraq war.

The Danish army statement said local Iraqis had confirmed that the 36 mortar shells had been buried for at least 10 years at the site 12 miles north of Qurnah.

Several hundred Danish soldiers are working with a British-led multinational force responsible for security in southern Iraq.

The U.S. administration had cited the threat of illicit weapons of mass destruction as a principal reason for launching war on Iraq in March last year. But no such weapons have been found so far.

The United States, earlier this month, pulled out from Iraq a 400-member military team specializing in the disposal of weapons of mass destruction, which analysts saw as a sign the administration believes it is less likely that such weapons would be found.

But the White House played down the move, saying that the group focused on hunting weapons was remaining in Iraq.