Iraq mortar shells 'contained blister agent'

A cache of 36 shells buried in the Iraqi desert have been uncovered, and preliminary tests by British experts showed they contained a liquid blister agent, it emerged today.

The 120mm mortar shells are thought to be left over from the eight-year war between Iraq and Iran, which ended in 1988, said US Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt.

The shells were found by Danish engineering troops and Icelandic de-miners near Al Quarnah, north of the city of Basra where Denmark’s 410 troops are based, the Danish Army Operational Command said.

The shells were wrapped in plastic but had been damaged, and they appeared to have been buried for at least 10 years, the Danish statement said.

It said British experts did a preliminary test and said the shells contained “blister gas”, but did not elaborate.

Before the war, the US alleged Iraq still had stockpiles of mustard gas, a World War I-era blister agent that is stored in liquid form. The chemical burns skin, eyes and the lungs.

US intelligence officials also claimed Iraq had sarin, cyclosarin and VX, which are deadly nerve agents.

“We’re doing some preliminary tests to ensure that if they do contain any kind of blister agent that we can dispose of them properly,” Kimmitt said.

The Danish military emphasised that the tests were not definitive.

Initial tests by field troops are designed to favour a positive reading, erring on the side of caution to protect soldiers. More sophisticated tests are often necessary.

In October, Dutch marines found several dozen artillery shells dating from the 1991 Gulf War in the southern Iraqi town of Samawah, but the shells contained no biological or chemical agents.

Samawah is 100 miles west of the southern region where the Danes discovered the shells yesterday.

In April, US troops found a dozen 55-gallon drums in an open field near the northern Iraqi town of Baiji.

Preliminary tests performed at the scene indicated one drum might contain the nerve agent cyclosarin and a blister agent that could be mustard gas. Tests later showed the barrel’s contents were not chemical weapons.