H
HighlandSniper58
Guest
Sarin Gas Confirmed in Iraq Bomb
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
From MoD Oracle
Comprehensive testing has confirmed the presence of the chemical weapon sarin in the remains of a roadside bomb discovered this month in Baghdad.
The determination, made by a laboratory in the US that officials would not identify, verifies what earlier, less-thorough field tests had found.
The bomb was made from an artillery shell designed to disperse the deadly nerve agent on the battlefield, officials said.
The origin of the shell remains unclear, and finding that out is a priority for the US military, the defence official said.
Some analysts worry the 155mm artillery shell, found rigged as a bomb on May 15, may be part of a larger stockpile of Iraqi chemical weapons that insurgents can now use.
But no more have turned up, and several military officials have said the shell may have been an older one that pre-dated the 1991 Gulf War.
It likewise is not known whether the bombers knew they had a chemical weapon. Military officials have said the shell bore no labels to indicate it was anything except a normal explosive shell, the type used to make scores of roadside bombs in Iraq.
No one was injured in the shell's initial detonation, but two US soldiers who removed the round had symptoms of low-level nerve agent exposure, officials said last week.
The shell was a binary type, which has two chambers containing relatively safe chemicals. When the round is fired from an artillery gun, its rotation mixes the chemicals to create sarin, which is supposed to disperse when the shell strikes its target.
Since it was not fired from a gun but was detonated as a bomb, the initial explosion on May 15 dispersed the precursor chemicals, apparently mixing them in only small amounts, officials said then. In battle, such shells would have to be fired in great numbers to effect a large body of troops.
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
From MoD Oracle
Comprehensive testing has confirmed the presence of the chemical weapon sarin in the remains of a roadside bomb discovered this month in Baghdad.
The determination, made by a laboratory in the US that officials would not identify, verifies what earlier, less-thorough field tests had found.
The bomb was made from an artillery shell designed to disperse the deadly nerve agent on the battlefield, officials said.
The origin of the shell remains unclear, and finding that out is a priority for the US military, the defence official said.
Some analysts worry the 155mm artillery shell, found rigged as a bomb on May 15, may be part of a larger stockpile of Iraqi chemical weapons that insurgents can now use.
But no more have turned up, and several military officials have said the shell may have been an older one that pre-dated the 1991 Gulf War.
It likewise is not known whether the bombers knew they had a chemical weapon. Military officials have said the shell bore no labels to indicate it was anything except a normal explosive shell, the type used to make scores of roadside bombs in Iraq.
No one was injured in the shell's initial detonation, but two US soldiers who removed the round had symptoms of low-level nerve agent exposure, officials said last week.
The shell was a binary type, which has two chambers containing relatively safe chemicals. When the round is fired from an artillery gun, its rotation mixes the chemicals to create sarin, which is supposed to disperse when the shell strikes its target.
Since it was not fired from a gun but was detonated as a bomb, the initial explosion on May 15 dispersed the precursor chemicals, apparently mixing them in only small amounts, officials said then. In battle, such shells would have to be fired in great numbers to effect a large body of troops.
