1:35pm UK, Saturday April 05, 2003

US Marines are digging up the courtyard of a girls' school south-east of Baghdad after a tip-off chemical weapons may be buried there.

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US Marines In Iraq

The Marines said they had been told about it by a man who described himself as a former member of the Iraqi special forces.

He said groups of men had knocked down a wall of the school two months ago, hidden something in the courtyard and then concreted it over again.

It took them three nights to complete the work.

"We don't have a clue now but we're going to dig it up and see," General James Mattis, the commander of the Marine Division said at the scene.

The school is in a town about 50 miles from Baghdad.

President Bush launched the invasion of Iraq on March 20, claiming Saddam Hussein had banned chemical and biological weapons.

Saddam denies having any and so far none have been found by Coalition forces.

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