Eleven British companies were among dozens of suppliers Iraq used to try and build an atomic bomb.The revelation is contained in Iraq's 1996 dossier of its nuclear programme.
European, American and Japanese firms also helped provide the components and know-how for Iraq to build an atomic bomb.
The secret declaration is virtually identical to the one submitted to UN inspectors on December 7th, according to UN officials.
UN officials say the only difference between the two reports is that the latest has a 300-page section in Arabic on civilian nuclear programmes and a slightly larger typeface that stretches it to 2,100 pages.
The reports have not been made public to protect the names of companies that, knowingly or not, supplied Iraq with the means to make nuclear weapons.
It has long been known that foreign companies helped Iraq, and some of them have been identified before, but the Iraqi account provides the most exhaustive list so far of companies involved.
Iraq's report says the equipment was either sold or made by more than 30 German companies, 10 American companies, 11 British companies and a handful of Swiss, Japanese, Italian, French, Swedish and Brazilian firms. It says more than 30 countries supplied its nuclear programme.
It details nuclear efforts from the early 1980s to the Gulf War and contains diagrams, plans and test results in uranium enrichment, detonation, implosion testing and warhead construction.
PA