U.N. Probing Charge of Chemical Arm Use

The United Nations said it is investigating allegations that the government of Sudan used chemical weapons in a bombing raid, after three U.N. relief workers as well as villagers fell sick. A spokeswoman for the U.N. World Food Program said three of its workers stopped briefly in the town of Lainya in rebel-held southern Sudan last week, three days after it was bombed by a high-altitude plane. “Immediately afterward, the three suffered from a burning sensation in their nose and eyes, started sneezing and coughing,” a WFP spokeswoman said. The government has denied rebel charges that it used chemical or biological arms in attacks on Lainya.