National Public Radio is reporting that Marines near Baghdad have discovered rockets equipped with sarin and mustard gas. They found significant quantities of the toxins -- "not just trace elements" -- in the cache of 20-foot long BM-21 projectiles.
U.S. Central Command headquarters in Qatar had no immediate comment on the report. But if the story is accurate, this would be the first time major quantities of banned weapons have been found in the current conflict with Iraq.
This is one of several potential chemical discoveries in Iraq.
"U.S. soldiers evacuated an Iraqi military compound on Sunday after tests by a mobile laboratory confirmed evidence of sarin nerve gas," according to the Knight-Ridder News Service. "The evacuation... followed a day of tests for the nerve agent that came back positive, then negative. Additional tests Sunday night by an Army Fox mobile nuclear, biological and chemical detection laboratory confirmed the existence of sarin."
Col. Tim Madere, the top chemical officer in 101st Airborne V Corps, told the New York Times he'd withhold final judgement on whether or not the substance is sarin until the 51st Chemical Company can perform a more thorough analysis. Those tests are supposed to be completed by Wednesday.
On Friday, MSNBC.com reported finding traces of the ricin and botulinum toxins at a militant camp near the Iranian border.
THERE'S MORE: The chemical fog of war is rolling in thick. AFP now says that the "sarin" supposedly found by the 101st is actually a pesticide.
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