Weapons cache biggest yet

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BAGHDAD -- American troops said yesterday they had uncovered the largest weapons cache to date in Fallujah, where Iraqi officials said more than 2,000 people died in the weeklong U.S.-led offensive aimed at curbing the insurgency so that elections could be held nationwide.

The Fallujah siege angered many in the influential Sunni minority, producing calls to boycott the vote, a move that could cost the new government much-needed legitimacy.

The weapons cache, described by the U.S. military as the largest uncovered so far in Fallujah, was discovered Wednesday in the Saad Bin Abi Waqas Mosque, where fugitive rebel leader Abdullah al-Janabi often preached.

Troops found small arms, artillery shells, heavy machine guns, and anti-tank mines inside the mosque, the U.S. military said.

U.S. forces also uncovered what may have been a mobile bomb-making factory as well as mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, launchers, and parts of surface-to-air weapons systems elsewhere in the mosque compound, the military added.

At a press conference in Baghdad, National Security Adviser Qassem Dawoud said troops found the suspected chemical lab in the southwestern district of Fallujah, where pockets of insurgents are still holding out following the Nov. 8 U.S.-Iraqi assault.

"We also found in the laboratory manuals and instructions spelling out procedures for making explosives," he said. "They also spoke about making anthrax."

Mr. Dawoud showed pictures of a shelf containing what he said were various chemicals -- about two dozen glass and plastic bottles, as well as plastic sacks full of some powdered substance labeled potassium cyanide in Arabic.

One of the pictures showed a row of plastic-covered computer terminals and chairs.

Mr. Dawoud also said a key aide of Al Qaeda-linked terror boss Abu Musab Zarqawi, who was believed to have been based in Fallujah, had been arrested in Mosul, where insurgents rose up this month in support of the Fallujah fighters.