BASRA, Iraq (9 Apr 2003) -- British military divers are searching for evidence of chemical weapons in a flooded underground bunker at what they believe was "Chemical Ali's" intelligence headquarters. Ali Hassan al-Majid's complex was largely destroyed in a bombing raid in 1998, but an Iraqi has identified a hidden bunker walled off from the main building. The bunker, near Basra in southern Iraq, appeared to have been deliberately flooded. A specialist Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) team, based at Honington, Suffolk, was called in on Tuesday to test the water for traces of weapons. Initial tests by the Joint NBC Regiment failed to show any traces of chemical or biological agents. Watertight containers Officers said the results did not rule out the possibility that they could be stored in watertight containers inside the bunker. On Wednesday, specialist divers were stepping up the hunt by diving down to the padlocked bunker. | | British military divers and chemical experts. Captain Ken Jolley, of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, said he was told about the intelligence compound by the Iraqi informant. Captain Jolley, from King's Lynn in Norfolk, said without the informant they would never have known about a secret stairway leading to the bunker. "We don't know yet what is in the basement section, but hopefully the divers will be able to find that out," he said. |
