Arms experts begin tests on barrels of 'nerve agent'

Tests are under way to identify the contents of 14 barrels of chemicals discovered by American special forces in Iraq amid reports that an initial examination suggested they contained nerve and blistering agents.

The unmarked barrels were discovered by a reconnaissance team close to the town of Baiji, 180 miles north-west of Baghdad, with at least a dozen missiles and 150 gas masks. A unit of chemical weapons specialists from the US army's 1-10 Cavalry was dispatched to the scene to test the substances.

Reports said that tests on Saturday by a team led by Lt Valerie Phipps on one of the 55-gallon barrels suggested that it contained a mixture of three chemicals, including a nerve agent and a blistering agent. The US army team reportedly used three different methods to test the liquid.

Officials in Washington urged caution over the discovery given that this is not the first time the United States has claimed to have discovered what appeared to be chemical weapons. Those finds turned out to be nothing more than barrels of pesticide.

The contents of the 12 barrels will be transported to US government laboratories in Maryland in an effort to identify the chemicals. The process is expected to take up to a week.

Washington and London have been desperate to find the so-called smoking gun – a cache of chemicals or biological agents that would prove Saddam Hussein had been developing, and was in possession of, weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The claim that President Saddam possessed such weapons was the central reason cited by both George Bush and Tony Blair for launching the war against Iraq.

Concern in growing in the Bush administration that despite intense efforts there has so far been an embarrassing lack of evidence that would support its claim that Saddam possessed WMD. Iraqi officials who have surrendered to the American forces have all insisted that the regime possessed no such weapons.

"Everybody recognises that it's gotten off to a rocky start," one official involved with the Pentagon's search plans told the Los Angeles Times. "Frankly, the whole situation is very confusing at the moment."

Such is the concern about delays, poor organisation and poor intelligence over potential weapons sites that the White House has assigned a member of the National Security Council to oversee the effort – pulling together the work of the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Defence Threat Reduction Agency, the CIA and other government agencies involved in the hunt.

The DIA's deputy director for intelligence operations, General Keith Dayton, has flown to Baghdad to investigate the problems that are being encountered and arrange reinforcements to join the search.

America has identified 150 "hot sites" to search for WMD, of which 90 have so far been investigated. None of the allegedly vast stockpiles of anthrax material, botulinum toxin, mustard gas, sarin and VX nerve agents, as well as more than 30,000 munitions, ballistic missiles and mobile biological weapons laboratories, has been found.

Partly due to problems of insufficient transport and security, the search has started slowly and officials say this has allowed much valuable information and equipment to be destroyed before the arrival of American investigators.

Colin Powell, the American Secretary of State, has urged people to be patient. "Let the troops finish the work they're doing now, securing and stabilising the country," he said. "And as more and more people come forward who are now free to speak, I think the evidence will be more forthcoming."