LONDON (AP)--The British Broadcasting Corp. said Sunday that David Kelly, a Ministry of Defense scientist whose suicide intensified a fierce debate over whether the government inflated claims about Iraqi weapons, was its main source for the story that enflamed the dispute.

``Having now informed Dr. Kelly's family, we can confirm that Dr. Kelly was the principal source'' for a radio piece in which reporter Andrew Gilligan quoted an anonymous official as saying the government had exaggerated claims of Iraqi weapons, the network said in a statement.

``The BBC believes we accurately interpreted and reported the factual information obtained by us during interviews with Dr. Kelly,'' the statement continued.

The statement said Kelly, an internationally respected weapons expert, had also been the source for a piece by reporter Susan Watts on the BBC's ``Newsnight'' analysis program.

Kelly had told a Parliamentary committee he spoke privately to Gilligan but did not recognize his claims in the reporter's piece and believed he was not its main source.[...]

The reporter quoted his source as saying the government had ``sexed up'' its evidence on Iraqi weapons in order to justify war and insisted on publishing a claim that Saddam Hussein could deploy some chemical and biological weapons within 45 minutes, despite intelligence experts' doubts.

Gilligan later said the source had accused Alastair Campbell, Prime Minister Tony Blair's communications adviser, of insisting the 45 minutes claim be included in a government dossier on Iraqi weapons. The House of Commons Foreign Affairs committee cleared Campbell of that charge.

``I believe I am not the main source,'' Kelly told the committee Tuesday. ``From the conversation I had, I don't see how (Gilligan) could make the authoritative statement he was making.'' [...]