Iraq weapons search a 'high priority'

No evidence of weapons of mass destruction has been announced

Coalition forces are making a "determined effort" to find Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has insisted.

He said elements of British forces serving in Iraq were committed to this task and the priority of the Iraq Survey Group, which includes up to 100 UK service personnel, will be to search for those weapons.

Mr Hoon stressed the importance of finding Saddam's banned arsenal as MPs questioned the importance the UK government was placing on their discovery.

Investigation into Iraq's programme to develop weapons of mass destruction remains a high priority for all coalition forces in Iraq

Geoff Hoon

His comments came after Downing Street said ministers were still confident the weapons of mass destruction (WMD) will be found.

Earlier US President George W Bush warned in his weekly radio address that some of the evidence about Iraq's chemical and biological weapons programmes may have been looted.

Vindication

But Mr Hoon told MPs in the House of Commons: "Investigation into Iraq's programme to develop weapons of mass destruction remains a high priority for all coalition forces in Iraq.

"Elements of British forces are committed to this task."

Mr Hoon said the priority of the Iraq Survey Group "will be the search for weapons of mass destruction".

We remain confident that weapons of mass destruction will be found

Downing Street

Tory MP Andrew Robathan argued that the government had "undermined the success in Iraq by this lack of discovery of WMD".

"Those of us who wish to see the action vindicated would ask you to instigate a full judicial inquiry so we are quite certain that British troops weren't sent to their deaths on a false premise," he said.

Mr Hoon said on that point he could reassure the MP, adding: "There is a determined effort being made by coalition forces ...

"Now we are seeing significant coalition forces there with a specific responsibility to investigate the evidence for WMD."

Saddam search

The defence secretary said Saddam had had many years to hid WMD, but he was surprised by the suggestion that Conservatives wanted a judicial inquiry as opposed to one conducted by MPs.

On Saturday, Downing Street and the Foreign Office said the Iraq Survey Group had only just started work.

"We remain confident that weapons of mass destruction will be found," a Downing Street spokesman said.

Meanwhile the hunt for Saddam Hussein continues after a former top Iraqi official said he and his two sons survived the Gulf War.

Mahmud al-Tikriti told interrogators he spent time in hiding with Uday and Qusay Hussein and their father after the end of the war, according to US defence sources.

'Looting'

But the Observer newspaper claimed American experts were carrying out DNA tests on human remains after the US fired missiles at a convoy believed to be carrying Saddam Hussein and at least one of his sons.

On the hunt for weapons, President Bush said military and intelligence officials were interviewing scientists with knowledge of Saddam Hussein's weapons programmes.

"For more than a decade, Saddam Hussein went to great lengths to hide his weapons from the world.

"And in the regime's final days, documents and suspected weapons sites were looted and burned."

The president said the administration was determined to discover the true extent of Iraq's weapons programmes "no matter how long it takes".

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also acknowledged Iraq may have destroyed its chemical and biological arsenal before the offensive was launched.

They spoke ahead of Foreign Secretary Jack Straw's appearance before a Commons inquiry into whether the threat posed by Saddam Hussein was exaggerated.

Last week former Cabinet ministers Robin Cook and Clare Short told the inquiry UK ministers had exaggerated the evidence coming from the intelligence agencies in the run- up to the war.