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'Germ lab.' in Iraq

WASHINGTON May 8. U.S. forces in Iraq have found a trailer built by the toppled government of President Saddam Hussein as a mobile biological weapons laboratory, the United States has said.

The Undersecretary of Defence for Intelligence, Stephen Cambone, on Wednesday stopped short of calling the big truck a ``smoking gun,'' proving U.S. charges that Iraq produced weapons of mass destruction, telling reporters that sophisticated production equipment had been found inside the vehicle but no germ agents. It was the first time U.S. officials have said they have found firm evidence of such an Iraqi weapons programmeThe trailer was found on April 19 in northern Iraq and will soon be taken apart and minutely examined, Mr. Cambone told a Pentagon briefing. ``While some of the equipment on the trailer could have been for purposes other than biological weapons agent production, U.S. and U.K. tactical experts have concluded that the unit does not appear to perform any function beyond ... the production of biological agents,'' he said.

Mr. Cambone said the ``mobile production facility,'' was similar to 18 that the U.S. believes the former Iraqi government built.

He said the vehicle was taken over by U.S. forces at a Kurdish checkpoint. It was found on a heavy-equipment transporter typically used for carrying tanks, he said.

— Reuters

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