‘Mortar shells from Iraq had no chemical agents’

COPENHAGEN: After a week of tests in Iraq and the United States, the Danish army said on Sunday that 36 mortar shells believed to have a blister agent inside had no chemical agents.

The tests, done in southern Iraq and then again at the US Department of Energy’s National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory in Idaho, were negative, the army said in a statement.

The 36 shells, found north of Basra January 9, had initially been though to contain a blister agent after tests by Danish and British troops. “The results show that the shells from the Danish area did not contain chemical warfare agents,” the Danish Army Operational Command said in a statement.

However, the first field tests by Danish and British troops based in the area had indicated a blister agent was in the shells, which US military officials said were likely remnants from the 1980-88 war between Iran and Iraq. Members of the US-led Iraq Survey Group were dispatched to Qurnah in southern Iraq, 400 kilometres southeast of the capital, Baghdad, to do more tests on the shells. After field tests resulted in a negative finding, one shell was sent to the National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory for a final confirmation.

It was not clear why the Danish and British tests first showed they could contain blister gas, the Danish army said from its headquarters in Karup, 265 kilometres northwest of Copenhagen.

“The Danish Army Operational Command will now investigate what could be the cause to this,” the statement said, adding the testing kits will be sent to Denmark for examination.

The 120mm shells, with no markings of origin, were found by Danish engineers and two Icelandic de-miners who were tipped off by local residents. —AP

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