A document that the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association says proves the MoD is investigating a link was confiscated during a police raid on the homes of two veterans.

Some veterans blame depleted uranium found in anti-tank shells for what they describe as Gulf War Syndrome - which includes symptoms like chronic fatigue, hair and weight loss, skin rashes and birth defects in their children.

Other veterans blame vaccine "cocktails"

The association says the document proves the MoD lied when it said it would not research a possible link because it was not supported by medical evidence.

The MoD responded that the association's conclusion was based on the misreading of the document.

The document was allegedly stolen from the MoD's Medical Assessment Programme (MAP), which is investigating Gulf War illnesses.

A man was arrested and later released on bail.

MAP was set up in 1993 to study Gulf War Syndrome. To date it has not confirmed that such a syndrome exists.

40% suffer

Up to 30 veterans of the 1,800 who say they have the syndrome have now died. Others say they are dying.

In the United States, up to 70,000 have complained that they are suffering from one or more of the symptoms.

On 1 September, a Senate committee in the US concluded that there was no single cause for the syndrome.

However, a report by the US Center of Disease Control and Prevention, released on 21 September, identified three distinct categories for the disease, strengthening veterans claims.

It identified three main categories of symptoms suffered by Gulf War veterans: muscular disorders and skeletal disorders - known collectively as fibromyalgia - and psychological dysfunction.

The research found that 40% of Gulf War veterans studied suffered from two or three of the categories, compared with just 14% of soldiers who had not served in the region during the 1991 conflict to liberate Kuwait.