Fears Over Libya's Missiles And Mustard Gas

Among the most pressing concerns about a post-Gaddafi Libya is the risk of the country's many loose weapons falling into the wrong hands.

Television pictures of rebels swarming out of Gaddafi's Tripoli bunkers heaving with newly-acquired weaponry have not reassured nervous security officials on both sides of the Atlantic.

"Weapons proliferation has been a matter of concern for many months for us and the TNC (Transitional National Council)," US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters in Washington.

Most worrying is the amount of surface-to-air missile (SAMs) launchers washing around Libya.

In April, US Africa Command commander General Carter Ham told America's Congress as many as 20,000 SAMs were in the country when the operation began.

"Many of those, we know, are now not accounted for. Each one is capable of bringing down a civilian airliner," he said.

Reporting on the road to Ras Lanuf in March, Sky News saw the myriad weapons acquired by rebels. Back then, some did not even know what they were brandishing.

One rebel told Sky his surface-to-air missile was a rocket-propelled grenade.

Initially, none of the SAMs had any battery packs, but later rebels seemed to have acquired them.

The military with its penchant for unwieldy acronyms calls them MANPADS - man-portable air-defence systems.

Imagine combining MANPADS with jihadists and a bit of know-how and you understand the security fears.

There seems little doubt there were jihadists among the rebel ranks during the Libyan uprising.

There are also concerns about mustard gas stockpiles, and more conventional weapons.

The new government in Libya will be under intense pressure to secure its borders against the passage of arms and track them down within the country.