Lawmakers of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party rounded on the national broadcaster for its conduct during a bitter dispute over its report that the government embellished its intelligence on Iraq's weapons programmes.

The BBC, which had previously refused to name its source, said it was "profoundly sorry" that Kelly's involvement 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.

Kelly was found dead on Friday after apparently committing suicide following a grilling earlier in the week from a parliamentary committee examining the row.

While he denied being the primary source for the BBC story, Kelly admitted briefing Andrew Gilligan, the BBC defence correspondent whose report triggered the furore.

But the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, which has been probing the disupted dossiers, said there was a "fundamental conflict" between the evidence given to the committee by Kelly and Gilligan.

"I think the BBC has got to look at itself long and hard now after Andrew Gilligan's latest evidence to the foreign affairs committee last Thursday," Labour MP Donald Anderson told Sky News.

The BBC, which prides itself for its reputation for rigorous journalistic standards and an independent viewpoint, is no stranger to clashes with the government.

Margaret Thatcher's government criticised the broadcaster's coverage of the Falklands War in 1982, though the BBC stood its ground and retained the support of voters.

Nevertheless, the broadcaster's naming of its source turned some of the glare of the media spotlight away from Blair.

The prime minister, grappling with the biggest crisis of his political career, has been dogged by the burgeoning scandal on his trip to East Asia, even facing calls for his resignation from within his own party.

But Blair, who has previously accused the BBC of having committed "an attack on my integrity", adopted a more conciliatory tone, saying he was "pleased" the broadcaster had named Kelly as its source.

"I am pleased the BBC has made this announcement," he said in a statement following a 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."

Even before the BBC's statement on Kelly, however, allies of Blair had relaunched the war of words with the broadcaster.

Writing in The Observer, Peter Mandelson, a former British minister close to Blair, hit out at the BBC's "obsession" with attacking the prime minister's communications chief Alastair Campbell.

Gerald Kaufman, a Labour MP who chairs the Commons Culture, Media and Sport committee, meanwhile said the BBC should be brought under the new Ofcom communications watchdog.

"The BBC has behaved deplorably and there are serious implications for its future," he said.

WAR.WIRE