AFGHANISTAN’S leading human rights organisation said yesterday it was investigating the possibility that white phosphorus was used in a US-Taliban battle that killed scores of Afghans.

US Major General Rick Lynch reiterated Pentagon assertions today that white phosphorus had not been used on innocent Iraqi civilians, but had been used to mark targets by lighting up the night sky.

PENTAGON officials say white phosphorous was used as a weapon against insurgent strongholds during the battle of Fallujah last November, but deny reports that the chemical weapon was used against civilians.

A speaker believed to be the al-Qaida leader in Iraq said in an audiotape found today on a website that one of his top lieutenants was killed in last year’s US-led assault on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.

Film legend Harrison Ford has agreed to star in Hollywood's first movie about November's second Iraq conflict, The Battle of Fallujah.