Study of Gulf War deaths

The United States Veterans Affairs Department has ordered a further study of death rates among Gulf War soldiers who may have been exposed to deadly gases from an Iraqi chemical weapons depot.

The Pentagon has removed 34,000 names from a list of troops it says were affected by a vapour cloud when US combat engineers blew up the Khamisiyah facility in 1991. A veterans' group says the death rate among the soldiers removed from the list is 10 times higher than for the troops the Pentagon admits were exposed to the deadly chemicals.