US tapes appear to show al-Qa'ida in poison gas tests

A series of videotapes revealing poison gas experiments by al-Qa'ida on dogs suggest that Osama bin Laden's organisation may have been further advanced in developing chemical weapons than thought.

A total of 64 videos taken over more than a decade also show al-Qa'ida operatives making explosives and training for terrorist attacks.

They contain footage of Mr bin Laden and his senior aides which has never been seen before. Nearly all the tapes pre-date the attacks on New York and Washington but one tape includes segments from televised news reports of the events of 11 September.

"This is the al-Qa'ida library. This is not the library of someone else ... This is their history, the record room of Osama bin Laden," said Rohan Gunaratna, an al-Qa'ida expert who was called to address the United States Congress, the United Nations and the Australian parliament after the attacks on 11 September.

The tapes were obtained inside Afghanistan by the American news network CNN in a remote part of the country, said to be a 17-hour drive from the capital, Kabul.

The network has declined to give more details about the origin of the videos but it said that they were from a long-time source.

CNN said some of the tapes were in effect video training manuals for terrorists, and were quite different from the al-Qa'ida promotional videos that have been released in the past. One three-hour tape, for instance, shows the techniques required to make purified TNT from easy-to-obtain materials.

Among the most shocking scenes in the collection of tapes are those that show a poison gas being tested on three dogs.

In one scene, a group of unidentified men wearing Afghan-style sandals rush out of an enclosure where one of the dogs is being held. A white liquid that gives off a gas is then seen seeping in from the left. Soon, the dog begins showing physical reactions, licking and then appearing to lose control of its hindquarters. It is eventually shown lying on its back, moaning.

One senior Bush administration official closely involved in weapons issues said he was "very troubled" by the video, particularly the chemical weapons aspect and the ability of Mr bin Laden's forces to use them. "This tape is unquestionable documentation that he has some capability," he said. "[The videotape] shows some level of sophistication, and indicates that they were trying to get results."

Another expert, John Gilbert, a chemical weapons and arms control specialist who advises the US government, said: "It's probably extremely significant, if not profound.

"I know there's been a lot of speculation about the state of technology, and how far they may have advanced toward having a usable chemical weapon. The fact that they were able to repeat tests or demonstrations on this tape indicates that they clearly have a way to produce a predictably lethal chemical."

Since 11 September, American officials have repeatedly warned that they believed al-Qa'ida was seeking weapons of mass destruction, including chemical weapons. But so far there has been no evidence on videotape that al-Qa'ida has succeeded in obtaining or developing such weapons.

According to reports yesterday, coalition intelligence sources who have examined the tape of the poisoned dogs said it appears that the experiment was carried out at the Darunta camp in Afghanistan.

The sources said dead dogs had been seen on satellite images of the Darunta camp. They added that no intelligence agency was known to have seen the videotapes.