U.S. officer at scene says two preliminary tests indicated traces of nerve agent on warhead found at air base near Kirkuk
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Coalition weapons experts were called to an occupied air base in northern Iraq to determine whether a warhead found there was loaded with chemical weapons, military sources told CNN. U.S. troops found the warhead, which is about as long as a baseball bat and as big around as a coffee can, during routine operations to secure the airfield in Kirkuk. It was marked with a green band which, military sources told CNN, is the universal symbol for chemical weaponry. Two separate "improved chemical agent monitor" (ICAM) tests showed trace amounts of a nerve agent in two spots on the warhead — at the rear and in the middle where there is a screwed-down circular area about the size of a quarter. A former Iraqi air force colonel, claiming to be the former base commander, came to Kirkuk on Friday and told military officials he knew of 120 missiles within about an 18-mile radius of Kirkuk — 24 of those carrying chemical munitions, according to an army intelligence posting at the airfield's military headquarters. |