US Tests Old Iraq Shells For Chemical

Fourteen members of the Iraqi Survey Group, made up of intelligence analysts, interrogators and translators, will be testing the 120mm shells with a mobile laboratory at the Iraqi site over the next few days, Maj. Kim Gruenberger of the Danish Army Operational Command told The Associated Press.

They have been working since this morning," Gruenberger, who spoke from the Danish army's command center in Karup, 165 miles northwest of Copenhagen. He couldn't say when the results would be available.

Danish troops and Icelandic de-miners uncovered the shells Friday after receiving tips from local residents near Qurnah, north of the city of Basra, where Denmark's 410 soldiers are based.

Preliminary tests on the plastic-wrapped but damaged shells showed they contained a liquid blister agent. But initial tests by field troops are designed to favor a positive reading, erring on the side of caution to protect soldiers. More sophisticated tests are often necessary. Some Iraqis have told Danish soldiers that other mortar shells were buried in the area, including a stockpile dumped in the Tigris River that could contain as many as 400 rounds, Gruenberger said.