No blister agent in Iraq shells

Three dozen mortar shells uncovered in Iraq earlier this month had no chemical agents, the Danish army says.

It is not clear why initial tests first showed they could contain blister gas, the Danish army said in a statement carried by the AP news agency.

The 36 shells were found in southern Iraq buried among building equipment, even though they appeared to have been abandoned for at least 10 years.

The US-UK coalition launched the war in Iraq over arms banned by the UN.

No weapons of mass destruction have been found since Saddam Hussein's regime fell, although inspectors have found evidence of WMD-related programmes.

More...