NEWS RELEASE
HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND
7115 South Boundary Boulevard
MacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101
Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894
May 17, 2004
Release Number: 04-05-42
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SARIN ARTILLERY PROJECTILE FOUND
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Iraq Survey Group confirmed that a 155mm artillery round found here May 15 in the early morning contained Sarin nerve agent.
The round was rigged as part of an improvised explosive device discovered by a U.S. forces convoy. The IED detonated before the IED could be rendered inoperable and produced a small amount of agent.
The round was an old binary type that requires the mixing of two chemical components stored in separate sections of the shell. For the deadly agent to be produced, the two components have to be mixed.
By design, the mixing occurs after the round is fired from an artillery piece. Mixing and dispersal of the chemical agent from such a projectile is very limited when used in an IED.
The former regime had declared all such rounds destroyed before the 1991 Gulf War. Two explosive-ordnance disposal team members were treated for exposure to nerve agent as a result of the partial detonation of the round.
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