Global Security Newswire

The U.S. military last week found 1,500 gallons of chemicals and 11 precursor agents in what is believed to be a chemical factory operated by insurgents in the Iraqi city of Mosul, the Washington Post reported yesterday (see GSN, April 12).

Some of the precursors were “quite dangerous by themselves,” said Lt. Col. Steven Boylan. They could be used to produce an agent that could create “lingering hazards” to coalition and Iraqi forces and Iraqi civilians through exposure. 

No further details were released regarding the precursors or what type of chemical agent they might have been used to develop, according to the Post.

The laboratory began operation following the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, Boylan said (Ellen Knickmeyer, Washington Post, Aug. 14).

Preliminary tests show that the seized chemical could have been used in explosives, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Samples have been sent to the United States for additional testing.

Military officials found no explosives at the facility, said Col. Henry Franke, a U.S. nuclear, biological and chemical defense officer (Antonio Castaneda, Associated Press/Charlotte Observer, Aug. 14).