An interesting story covering several aspects of the war in Iraq:

A potential chemical weapons lab, a possible link between Saddam and Bin Laden, and recriminations from today's explosion at an arms dump in Baghdad.


US testing Iraq chemical find
The United States is testing materials found in Iraq that may have been used in the manufacture of chemical weapons, the Pentagon has said.

Officials say it will be several days before they have results.

They would not say when or where the materials were found, but a US television station reported that 14 unmarked drums had been found near the Bayji, about 210 kilometres (130 miles) northwest of Baghdad, on Friday.

The Pentagon announcement came as hospital workers in Baghdad said at least 12 people had been killed by explosions at an ammunition dump on the edge of the Iraqi capital.

America's ABC News reported that US chemical weapons specialists had tested a suspected mobile weapons laboratory.

Initial tests showed the presence of a nerve agent and a blistering agent, but the Pentagon remained cautious about the find.

The materials are being sent to the US for more comprehensive testing. The tests performed in Iraq can give false positives because similar chemicals are used in weapons and pesticides.

At least two previous suspected chemical weapons discoveries have turned out to be harmless.

But the barrels found at Bayji were near missiles and gas masks, making the US more suspicious. US forces escorted an ABC news crew to the site.


In a separate discovery, the UK newspaper the Sunday Telegraph said it had found documents linking Saddam Hussein with Osama Bin Laden.
The newspaper said an envoy from Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network travelled to Baghdad at the Iraqi leader's invitation in 1998 "to establish a relationship based on their mutual hatred of America and Saudi Arabia".

The Sunday Times, meanwhile, said that France had regularly told Iraq about its dealings with the US until at least the end of 2001.

Depot explosion

A US officer said "hostile forces" fired flares into the Baghdad arms depot, igniting many fires. The site contained missiles, mortars, grenades and hundreds of thousands of bullets.

The explosions, in the Zafaranyah neighbourhood of southern Baghdad, demolished at least four nearby houses.

More victims are said to be buried under rubble. Some unconfirmed reports speak of 40 people killed.

Many Iraqis are accusing American troops of storing weapons in a residential area.

Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of Baghdad, chanting anti-US, pro-Islamic slogans.

But a statement from the US Central Command said "the location of the ammunition cache near a civilian population is another example of the former regime's disregard for the safety of Iraqi citizens".

The BBC's Allan Little in Baghdad says the city is bristling with weapons, which can be easily bought and sold at markets.

US troops are trying to clamp down on this trade by storing weapons at dozens of depots around Baghdad.

In other developments:

- United States Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld leaves Washington for a tour of the Middle East and South Asia

- The man due to lead an interim administration in Iraq, Jay Garner, says all Iraqis will see their basic services restored in three weeks

- American diplomatic sources at the United Nations confirm that Washington is working on proposals for a new UN resolution to address the changed situation in Iraq

- The US Defence Department starts sending Iraqi exiles to Baghdad to join a temporary US-led administration, the New York Times reports

- The UN refugee agency says it is planning to help up to half a million Iraqi refugees return home from exile.