London: British Prime Minister Tony Blair today (Feb 04, 2004) admitted in the Parliament that experts have not found the weapons of mass destruction (WMD) that he cited as the reason to go to war in Iraq, but strongly defended the case for military action.

In a debate interrupted by anti-war protesters, Blair told deputies he accepted inspectors "have not found what I and many others confidently expected they would - actual weapons ready for immediate use".

But passionately defending his decision to go to war alongside the United States, Blair said the Iraq Survey Group hunting for banned weapons had discovered laboratories and other material in breach of United Nations resolutions.

"What they have found are laboratories, technology, diagrams, documents, teams of scientists told to conceal their work on biological, nuclear and chemical weapons capabilities, that in sum amounts to breaches of UN (United Nations) resolutions many, many times over," Blair said.

During exchanges disrupted by protesters shouting "murderer", Blair, the staunchest international ally of US President George W. Bush in the Iraq conflict, insisted, "I am not ashamed of taking the decision to go to war.

"I think we did the right thing. I think this country and its Armed forces should be proud of what we achieved."

Saddam's refusal to give up his alleged pursuit of weapons, as required by the United Nations, was cited by Blair as the main reason for taking Britain into the conflict in March.