"Over the past few weeks we have been at pains to protect Dr Kelly being identified as the source of these reports," the BBC said in a statement.

"We clearly owed him a duty of confidentiality. Following his death, we now believe, in order to end the continuing speculation, it is important to release this information as swiftly as possible," it added.

Kelly, a Ministry of Defence consultant on biological weapons and a former UN arms inspector in Iraq, bled to death after apparently slashing his own wrist, police said Saturday.

His family said he had been under "intolerable pressure" after being grilled on Wednesday by a parliamentary committee examining the row over the BBC report in late May that a dossier on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction had been "sexed up" by aides to Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Kelly denied being the source for the story but admitted briefing Andrew Gilligan, the BBC defence correspondent whose report triggered the bitter row between the government and the national broadcaster.

The BBC said it was "profoundly sorry" that Kelly's involvement as its source had ended in his death, but stood by its decision to air the report.

"We continue to believe we were right to place Dr Kelly's views in the public domain," it said.

The broadcaster said it would fully cooperate with a judicial probe into Kelly's death.

WAR.WIRE