‘Smoking gun’ search continues

A US military excavator shovels another load of mud onto a canal bank near the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah, cutting a deep trench.

The digger strikes a slab of concrete, raising hopes this could be a hidden dump of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction a nuclear, biological or chemical smoking gun to help justify the US-led war to oust the Iraqi leader. Nothing is found.

After days of intense digging and searching at least seven suspicious sites near Nasiriyah, US experts have found chemical warfare protective suits, but no chemical weapons.