Nerve agent warheads found in Iraq

Polish troops have found two warheads in Iraq believed to contain a deadly nerve agent, though it is not clear what period the weapons come from, it was announced today.

The two warheads were found early last month in a bunker in the area controlled by Polish forces, and tested positive for cyclosarin – a substance many times stronger than sarin, the Polish defence ministry said in a statement.

“There is no doubt that the warheads contain chemical weapons,” defence minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski told TVN24.

“The problem is what period they come from, whether the Gulf War or earlier, and whether they were usable, partly usable or not at all.”

Another dozen were found later in June and are being tested in Baghdad and the United States, he said.

“Some of them are very corroded. They are probably not usable, but are dangerous to the local environment,” Szmajdzinski said.

In May, an artillery shell apparently filled with the sarin nerve agent was discovered at the side of the road in Baghdad by US forces.

Officials at the time stopped short of claiming the munition was definite evidence of a large weapons stockpile in pre-war Iraq or evidence of recent production by Saddam Hussein’s regime.