American doubts production of VX components in al-Shefaa factory

The US daily the Washington Post on Saturday reported that analysts at the CIA expressed their doubts of the existence of a component used in making VX nerve gas in al-Shifaa factory in Khartoum just one month before its destruction in August 1998 by US cruise missiles.

CIA experts had explained that they were in need of more time before they could confirm the storage or production of the material known as EMPTA at al-Shefaa factory and that they suggested obtaining more data before answering these questions, the paper said.

Last Thursday, the Sudanese government asked the US to admit that it had committed a mistake by bombarding al-Shefaa factory on August 20 1998, which resulted in killing one person, wounding another seven and the total destruction of the factory.