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Sunday, 9 June, 2002, 09:00 GMT 10:00 UK
Nerve gas found at US base
Hundreds of US troops are stationed at the base
Traces of deadly nerve agents and mustard gas have been found in three areas of an American base in Uzbekistan.
All troops have been moved away from the sites at the Karshi Khanabad base, but no symptoms of exposure to the nerve agents have been reported. Officials say the traces may have come from chemical weapons believed to have been stored there when it was a Soviet base.
Hundreds of US military personnel are currently stationed at the base.
A team of experts conducting a routine inspection detected three contaminated sites
Military officials said that there was no evidence of the contamination occurring recently. Warm weather One theory is that warm weather could be to blame as heat causes contaminated substances spilled onto the ground to give off new vapours. It was also possible that chemical weapons were buried under the site and were now leaking, a military official said. Further tests are currently being conducted to determine the origin of the traces and how much there is. Bases in Afghanistan are also being tested for possible biological or chemical contamination. Karshi Khanabad was one of the main bases used by US troops during the war in Afghanistan, with up to 5,000 troops based there at one point.
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25 Apr 02 | Country profiles
01 May 02 | Asia-Pacific
13 Oct 01 | Asia-Pacific
11 Oct 01 | Asia-Pacific
02 Oct 01 | Asia-Pacific
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