Deserted lab points to chemical weapons use

A makeshift laboratory has been discovered in Kabul containing foul-smelling liquids in brown jars and scattered papers covered in chemical formulas.

Documents that litter the compound suggest the al-Qaida network may have been trying to develop chemical arms and other unconventional weapons at the site.

One item was a booklet offering advice on how to survive a nuclear explosion.

In the US, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge confirmed that some documents containing material about how to make a nuclear device were found in an al-Qaida building in Kabul.

"We have to be prepared for all eventualities including a nuclear threat," Ridge said.

Last weekend, a Pakistani newspaper quoted bin Laden as claiming that his organization had nuclear and chemical weapons. However, US officials have said that they had no information to suggest he has been successful in his attempt to acquire such weaponry.

The Kabul compound appeared to have taken a direct hit from what northern alliance soldiers said was a US rocket.

An alliance soldier in camouflage dress, Mohammed Nisar, walked through the rooms in three houses, pointing out pieces of paper with formulas, handwritten diagrams, pictures of rockets and other weaponry. In the basement of one house was what looked to be a laboratory.

In another house, where the al-Qaida men lived, according to Mr Nisar, four different types of land mines were found. Northern alliance troops had emptied two old railway cars parked in the yard that its soldiers said had been packed with arms and ammunition.

Deep beneath the house were what seemed to be bunkers, with a roof of fresh cement. In one bunker were parts of weapons, with the barrels of anti-aircraft weapons propped up in one corner.

In the yard and in the rooms more paper and diagrams - some in Arabic, some in Persian, some in Urdu - and maps with large circles to mark locations. Computer manuals were among the books.