Telegraph: Troops Find 'Chemical Weapons' Near Basra

British officials were called in yesterday to test a batch of liquid-filled mortar bombs found hidden in southern Iraq to discover if they could be chemical weapons.

Ali Nimir, a former colonel in a Republican Guard artillery unit, said: "I remember seeing boxes of these kinds of armaments in our base two years ago. We were told that they were chemical weapons."

"They made a splashing sound inside if you moved them around. From what I recall they were removed from our bases and distributed to secret hiding places around the country about a year before the war. I never saw them again."