"I am pleased the BBC has made this announcement," Blair said in a statement released here following his summit with South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun.

"Whatever the differences, no one wanted this tragedy to happen. I know everybody including the BBC, has been shocked by it.

"The independent Hutton inquiry has been set up. It will establish the facts. In the meantime, our attitude should be one of repect and restraint, no recriminations, with the Kelly family uppermost in our minds."

Kelly, a ministry of defence consultant on biological weapons and a former UN arms inspector in Iraq, was found dead on Friday after apparently slashing his own wrist, police said.

The BBC confirmed that Kelly was the source of its report on British intelligence on Iraq.

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

"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.

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 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.

WAR.WIRE