The very missiles Saddam Hussein fired at U.S. forces in Kuwait appear to have been the same weapons he either claimed not to possess or agreed to destroy.

U.S., British and Kuwait military officials said Iraq fired at least three missiles Thursday — though they differed on how many of them were Scuds, which have been banned by the United Nations.

The first salvos were both a telling sign of Iraq’s hidden weapons and a frightening reminder that Saddam still has the capability to deliver chemical or biological warheads.

The uncertainty surrounding Iraq’s potentially deadly arsenal led U.S. troops and Kuwaiti citizens to pull out their gas masks and protective suits during air raid sirens Thursday that warned missiles were incoming.

Kuwaiti officials said the first two were Scuds, similar to the ones the Iraqis fired in the 1991 Gulf War.

The Pentagon described the two as “tactical ballistic missiles” — which could include Scuds — that were intercepted and destroyed by the PAC-3, the latest Patriot anti-missile system, as they flew toward the Kuwaiti sky at midday Thursday.

A third missile, described by Kuwaiti military officials as the Iraqi Al Samoud, broke in two and fell near the Kuwaiti border.

Iraq told U.N. inspectors in its December weapons declaration, a copy of which was shown to an Associated Press reporter, that it no longer had the Scud missiles it used against Iran in the 1980s and against Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Israel during the 1991 Gulf War.

According to Pentagon officials, Iraq fired a missile Thursday toward Kuwait City at approximately 12:24 p.m., followed by a second one at 1:30 p.m.

On Kuwaiti television, military spokesman Col. Youssef al-Mullah said one of the Scuds was shot down by three Patriot missiles.