By Toby Harnden in Washington (Filed: 13/12/2002)

The CIA is investigating a "credible" intelligence report that Islamic terrorists linked to al-Qa'eda recently acquired VX nerve agent in Iraq.

If the report proves to be accurate, it could be proof that Saddam Hussein lied in last week's 12,000-page declaration to the UN and provide evidence of the link between Baghdad and Osama bin Laden that the White House has so often hinted at.

It would also be the first known time that al-Qa'eda had managed to obtain a weapon of mass destruction. The most lethal non-conventional weapon al-Qa'eda was previously thought to have was cyanide.

Officials told the Washington Post that the transaction involved VX gas and that a courier had smuggled it from Iraq through Turkey in October or November. The destination was not revealed.

A key question would be whether Saddam was aware of or had sanctioned such a transfer. His special security organisation, run by his son Qusay, has close control over concealed weapons programmes.

Iraq denied the report, saying all its chemical weapons were destroyed in the early 1990s. VX is odourless and tasteless and tiny amounts of it can kill within minutes.

-- Anonymous, December 13, 2002