US army says shell found in Iraq contained nerve gas

8.00am

BAGHDAD - A small amount of the nerve agent sarin was found in a shell that exploded in Iraq, the US army said on Monday -- the first announcement of the discovery of any of the weapons on which Washington made its case for war.

Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt told a news conference the substance had been found in an artillery shell inside a bag discovered by a US convoy a few days ago. The round exploded, releasing a small amount of the substance, he said.

"The Iraq Survey Group has confirmed today that a 155 (mm) artillery round containing sarin nerve agent had been found," he said. "The round had been rigged as an IED that was discovered by a US force convoy," he said. IEDs (improvised explosive devices), or roadside bombs, are a common guerrilla weapon.

"A detonation occurred before the IED could be rendered inoperable," Kimmitt said, adding that two members of an explosives team had been treated for exposure to the substance.

Initial testing of the shell showed it contained sarin, but the shell was apparently unmarked so it was unclear whether the attacker knew it contained the nerve agent, a US official said on condition of anonymity.

"Additional testing will be done outside of Iraq, more detailed testing, but the initial tests in the field show the presence of sarin," the official said.

Kimmitt said the round, designed to mix the sarin in flight, belonged to a class of ordnance the ousted government of Saddam Hussein claimed to have destroyed before the 1991 Gulf war.

"It is a weapon that we believe was stocked from the ex-regime time, and it had been thought to be an ordinary artillery shell set up to explode like an ordinary IED," he said. "When it exploded it indicated that it actually had some sarin in it."

In 1995, members of a doomsday cult, Aum Shinri Kyo (Supreme Truth Sect), released the nerve gas sarin during rush hour in Tokyo's subways, killing 12 and sickening thousands.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq