WASHINGTON: An investigation by the US Congress on weapons of mass destruction has predicted that terrorists will mount an attack using biological or nuclear weapons within five years.

The six-month inquiry mentioned Pakistan as one of the likeliest sources of such an attack.

The report, by the bipartisan Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction, said "unless the world community acts decisively and with great urgency, it is more likely than not that a weapon of mass destruction will be used in a terrorist attack somewhere in the world by the end of 2013. Terrorists are more likely to be able to obtain and use a biological weapon than a nuclear weapon," it said.

Commission members briefed the vice-president-elect, Joe Biden, and Barack Obama's nominee for homeland security secretary, Janet Napolitano, on Wednesday.

Senator Biden said it was clear the world was not doing enough on the issue. "We're not doing all we can to prevent the world's most lethal weapons from winding up in the hands of terrorists. This report is more than a warning about what we are doing wrong. It's a pragmatic blueprint for how to get it right."

The commission, led by the former Democratic senators Bob Graham and Jim Talent, was given six months to complete the report. It followed on from the work of the commission that investigated the September 11 attacks.

Mr Graham told reporters that a biological or nuclear attack within the next five years was not inevitable and the commission's reports included a series of recommendations which, if implemented, could diminish the threat.

The recommendations included the creation of a White House post focusing on proliferation and more emphasis on diplomatic efforts. The team's remit ranged from lack of security at biological laboratories in the US to the safety of nuclear stockpiles in Russia. It conducted 250 interviews with scientists, analysts, intelligence agencies and the military.

The report concluded that the risk from biological or nuclear weapons was higher than sceptical foreign policy and defence analysts have so far suggested.

Those analysts had pointed to the complexity of transporting such weapons and the limitations of a nuclear dirty bomb, whose radius of damage is minimal compared with missile-delivered warheads.

The report disagreed, saying: "No mission could be timelier. The simple reality is that the risks that confront us today are evolving faster than our multi-layered responses.

Guardian News & Media,

Agence France-Presse