§ Lord Roberts of Conveyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the coalition forces discovered on 1 April 2003 300 chemical biological protection suits and masks in the Fedayeen Barracks at As Samawah, Iraq; and whether a similar cache was discovered by British troops in the Basra region at about the same time. [HL4415]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach)Coalition forces made a number of discoveries of chemical and biological protection equipment in southern Iraq in late March and early April 2003. This included a find by UK forces at a command post in the Rumaila oil fields of more than one hundred gas masks and chemical and biological protection suits. The Ministry of Defence does not hold detailed records of discoveries of chemical and biological protection equipment made by other coalition forces.