Two separate preliminary tests on a weapon found at an occupied northern Iraqi air base in Kirkuk showed trace amounts of nerve agent in two spots on the baseball bat-length warhead, according to a report by CNN.
The warhead tested at 1 bar on a 6-bar scale, which would be consistent with leakage from a chemically armed weapon, military sources said.
The warhead is marked with a green band which, military sources told CNN, is the universal symbol for chemical weaponry.
The ''improved chemical agent monitor'' tests were conducted today after the weapon was found Friday in a box during routine operations to secure the airfield, according to CNN.
Weapons experts have been called in to determine if the warhead is laden with a chemical agent.
Separately, a former Iraqi air force colonel, claiming to be the former base commander, came to Kirkuk and told U.S. military officials he knew of 120 missiles within an approximate 18-mile radius of Kirkuk.
According to an army intelligence posting at the airfield's military headquarters, the man said 24 of those missiles carried chemical munitions.
Meanwhile, an investigation is
under way to determine whether U.S. Marines guarding Iraq's most important nuclear facility have discovered previously undocumented weapons-grade nuclear material.
Marines reportedly located a vast underground complex of tunnels, warehouses and offices that apparently had been missed by U.N. weapons inspectors at the Al-Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center, 18 miles south of Baghdad, as WorldNetDaily reported.
One report said the tunnels might contain weapons-grade plutonium, while unnamed sources have suggested the U.S. forces came upon known stocks of low-grade uranium and broke U.N. seals meant to control radioactive material.
Lt. Cmdr. Charles Owens, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command in Qatar, told WorldNetDaily he cannot confirm whether the Marines have discovered anything new.
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