King Tut's CAT scan to solve murder mystery

It is one of the most puzzling whodunnits ever. Three thousand years after he died while King of Egypt, Tutankhamen's remains are to be X-rayed in an attempt to discover what - or who- killed him.

It is one of the most puzzling whodunnits ever. Three thousand years after he died while King of Egypt, Tutankhamen's remains are to be X-rayed in an attempt to discover what - or who- killed him.

Egyptian archaeologists plan to remove the teenager's body from its tomb in Luxor's Valley of the Kings by the end of the month. Tutankhamen's mummified remains will be taken to Cairo for tests which scientists hope will determine whether he died naturally or was murdered.

A CAT scan - a three-dimensional X-ray - of Tutankhamen's skull will be done by the end of the year.

"We will know about any diseases he had, any kind of injuries and his real age," Egypt's antiquities chief, Zahi Hawass, told Reuters yesterday.

Speculation over the young King's death began in 1968, when an X-ray of Tutankhamen's mummy revealed a small chip of bone in his skull - sparking theories that he had been killed by a blow to the heard. Archaeologists are determined to discover the truth, citing Tutankhamen's high priest and his army commander as chief suspects for his murder.

"No one has seen the mummy since 1968," Mr Hawass said. Admitting that it had been mostly smashed to pieces by Carter's expedition, when tools were used to remove the King's gold mask, Hawass said he remained undeterred. "Even if it is just bone, we can examine each bone," he said.

Tutankhamen's remains were discovered in 1922 by the British archaeologist, Howard Carter.