Egypt denies claims Mubarak knew of WMD

EGYPT yesterday denied remarks by retired US General Tommy Franks that President Hosni Mubarak told him that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

"Such a claim is void of truth," Egyptian presidential spokesman Magad Abdel Fattah told the official Middle East News Agency.

In an interview with the US Parade magazine to promote his book, American Soldier, to be released this week, Franks recalled both Mr Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah told him two months before the Iraq war that Saddam had chemical and biological weapons.

In Jordan, a Royal Palace official who refused to be identified said: "His majesty did not have information that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction."

In its Sunday edition, Parade quoted Franks who led the US-led war against Iraq as saying that Mr Mubarak told him Saddam would use the weapons against US troops in case of war.

"What happened was that Franks asked the president for an assessment of reports on Iraq's possession of WMDs, and the president simply said that Egypt had been following the developments in Iraq, but it could not confirm whether Iraq possessed any weapons of mass destruction or whether these could be used against US forces in case of US military interference in Iraq," Abdel Fattah said.