US troops find chemical weapons lab

A chemical weapons laboratory found by US forces in Fallujah as they chased out rebels had chemicals and other equipment to make deadly hydrogen cyanide, Pentagon officials said tonight.

The Americans also found what Army Brig Gen David Rodriquez called “a mujahideen chemical and biological book” outlining instructions and formulas for anthrax, chemical blood agents and explosive materials.

Iraq’s national security adviser, Qassem Dawoud, reported the find on November 25. He said in Baghdad, that the laboratory was discovered in the south-western sector of Fallujah, where pockets of fighters were holding out against Marines who entered the rebellious city on November 8.

Rodriquez said the lab’s chemicals included sodium cyanide and hydrochloric acid, which, if combined, could be used to make hydrogen cyanide, a potentially lethal chemical agent.

Other officials said later the significance of the discoveries was not yet clear.

Rodriquez said other materials and documents found in Fallujah over the past few weeks, including rebels’ lists of telephone numbers, will help US and Iraqi forces in their hunt for militants elsewhere in Iraq.

“All that information that we gained out there we believe will help us in the future,” he said. He said

information might show “what is happening with the insurgency and how they operate”.