World Notes IRAQ

Iraq came under widespread criticism last year after it killed hundreds and perhaps thousands of Kurdish villagers with a chemical-weapons attack in the gulf war. Now U.S. officials confirm that Baghdad has been developing yet another form of warfare expressly banned by international law: biological weapons.

While chemical substances cause fatal gas burns in the lungs, germ warfare is designed to spawn epidemics of deadly diseases such as typhoid, cholera and anthrax. So far, there appears to be no evidence that Iraq has deployed germ warfare, despite allegations last September by Kurdish rebels that an outbreak of typhoid was caused by an Iraqi attack. But a purported document captured by Kurdish guerrillas a year ago refers to an inventory of "chemical and biological" materials in the hands of the Iraqi army. Dated Aug. 3, 1986, the document was released by London-based officials of the Kurdish Democratic Party.

According to Pentagon sources, Iraq is among at least nine nations developing biological weapons. The others: the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, Taiwan, Egypt, Israel, Iran and Syria.