A DENIAL from Robert Tuttle, the US Ambassador to Britain, that American forces used white phosphorous weapons in Iraq was contradicted by the Pentagon last night.

Mr Tuttle intervened in a row over reports that US troops used phosphorous to inflict chemical wounds on civilians. In a letter in The Independent yesterday he said: “US forces do not use napalm or white phosphorous as weapons.” But a Pentagon spokesman admitted that phosphorous bombs were deployed against insurgents in Iraq last year, while rejecting claims that they were used against civilians.

Phosphorous is used to create smokescreens and for penetrating heavy defences because of its intense burning properties. Its direct use against enemy fighters remains highly controversial because UN conventions ban its use on civilian “but not military” targets.

Lieutenant-Colonel Barry Venable insisted that white phosphorous was a conventional munition. Asked directly if it was used during the battle for Fallujah, he told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme: “Yes, it was used as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants. It is not a chemical weapon. They are not outlawed or illegal.

“We use them primarily as obscurants, for smokescreens or target-marking in some cases. However, it is an incendiary weapon and may be used against enemy combatants.”

Colonel Venable said that phosphorous was useful to shift insurgents from positions that could not be targeted by normal artillery. “When you have enemy forces that are in covered positions that your high explosive artillery rounds are not having an impact on . . . one technique is to fire a white phosphorus round into the position,” he said. He added that a denial of white phosphorus use which appeared on the US State Department’s website had been entered more than a year ago and was based on “poor information”.

The Pentagon statement will embarrass Mr Tuttle after he was tempted to make his most controversial public statement since his appointment.

He had said that suggestions that US forces targeted civilians in Iraq were “simply wrong”. But last week the Italian state television station RAI claimed that the highly flammable munitions were used against insurgents and civilians in Fallujah last November.

The RAI film, Fallujah, The Hidden Massacre, said that the US used a kind of napalm and white phosphorus in the battle.

If it is not removed from the skin, phosphorus can burn to the bone and its fumes can cause severe eye irritation.

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