Global Security Newswire

Further tests conducted on a cache of 36 Iraqi mortar shells have come back negative for the presence of blister agent, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Jan. 13).

Specialists from the Iraq Survey Group conducted tests on five of the mortar shells and all returned negative results, the Danish Army said yesterday. “Based on the tests, the experts conclude that none of the shells contain chemical warfare agents,” the Danish Army said.

The results of the tests will be sent to the U.S. Energy Department’s Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory for final verification.

“There is a certain relief that the shells do not represent a threat to the safety of the local population,” the Danish statement said, but it added that soldiers had expressed “some disappointment” because their mission is to hunt weapons of mass destruction.

A U.S. official said that some chemicals routinely used in conventional weapons, such as phosphorous, can produce false positives in field testing equipment, which is designed for safety reasons to err on the side of caution.

Since the U.S.-led searches began in Iraq, several weapons finds triggered positive field tests that were later overturned, AP reported (Matthew Rosenberg, Associated Press/The Australian, Jan. 15).