Preliminary tests on substances found at a military training camp in central Iraq suggest they contain a cocktail of banned chemical weapons, including deadly nerve agents, US officers said on today.
Major Michael Hamlet of the US 101st Airborne Division said the initial tests revealed levels of nerve agents sarin and tabun and the blister agent lewisite.
Major Hamlet said a team of experts would carry out further tests as early tomorrow on the substances, discovered at the camp in Albu Mahawish, on the Euphrates river between the central Iraqi cities of Kerbala and Hilla, site of ancient Babylon.
"If tests from our experts confirm this, this could be the smoking gun. It would prove (Iraqi President Saddam Hussein) has the weapons we have said he has all along," Major Hamlet said. "But right now we just don't know."
The US invaded Iraq on March 20th to overthrow President Saddam Hussein and prevent him using banned chemical weapons. Many other members of the United Nations opposed the attack, saying UN inspectors should be given more time to disarm Iraq.