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Soldiers 'find huge chemical arms plant' by G Chamberlain 
Soldiers 'find huge chemical arms plant' By Gethin Chamberlain outside Basra and Paul Peachey The Independent, 24 March 2003 US forces were reported early today to have found a 100-acre chemical weapons complex near the Iraqi city of Najaf. Reports of the discovery of the plant by US infantry advancing on Baghdad were treated with some scepticism last night. The former weapons inspector Scott Ritter said the find was likely to be "much ado about nothing". However, the claim came as British troops, mopping up Iraqi opposition outside Basra, also discovered cruise missiles and warheads hidden inside fortified bunkers. The chemical weapons factory find was first reported by The Jerusalem Post and Fox News, quoting unidentified Pentagon sources. The network reported that a general in charge of the facility was being questioned. The complex was found next to military barracks and surrounded by electrical fence. One soldier was slightly wounded when a booby-trap exploded as he was clearing the facility, the Post said. Asked at a news conference in Qatar yesterday about the reports, Lt-Gen John Abizaid of US Central Command declined to comment. He said top Iraqi officers have been questioned about chemical weapons. If the plant is confirmed as a factory, it would be the first find by the US-led invasion force validating their allegations that Iraq still has weapons of mass destruction. Iraqi officials have insisted they destroyed all of the chemical and biological weapons they made after the 1991 Gulf War a claim UN weapons inspectors have questioned. A spokesman for the inspectors said today they were not aware of any large sites that could be used to make chemical weapons in the area. Meanwhile, outside Basra, cases of rockets, giant anti-shipping mines and other ammunition piled in dozens of bunkers were found at the Az-Zubayr Heliport. Some of the boxes were clearly marked with the names of British manufacturers. One pile of boxes in a store housing rocket-propelled grenades bears the name of Wallop Industries Limited, based in Middle Wallop, Hampshire. The most disturbing find was two Russian-made Al-Harith anti-shipping cruise missiles (self-propelled guided missiles), each 20ft long and 3ft in diameter, and nine warheads hidden in two enormous reinforced concrete bunkers. The scale of the find took British forces by surprise and raised questions about the ability of weapons inspectors to cope with the task of scouring such a vast country for prohibited ordnance. The discovery of the missiles date-marked 2002 came as British troops from the Black Watch Regiment fought to secure the area around Iraq's second city. |