COPENHAGEN, Jan 14: The Danish Army said on Wednesday initial tests showed a cache of mortar rounds found buried in Iraq on Jan 9 did not contain any chemical substances as originally suspected.

"The expert group from the Iraq Survey Group have investigated five...and none of them have showed any trace of chemical substances," the Danish Army Operational Command said in a statement.

Samples would be sent to the United States for further tests and the results were expected within three to five days, the command said.

Denmark said its troops found the 36 mortar shells buried in southern Iraq and that early examination had suggested they could contain blister gas. The shells had been buried for at least 10 years, it said.

Blister gas, an illegal weapon which Saddam Hussein said he had destroyed, was used extensively against the Iranians during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. -Reuters