Iraqi Kurds say Islamic State used chlorine gas against them
Iraqi Kurdish authorities said on Saturday they had evidence that Islamic State had used chlorine gas as a chemical weapon against their peshmerga fighters in northern Iraq in January.
The Security Council of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region said in a statement to Reuters that the peshmerga had taken soil and clothing samples after an Islamic State car bombing attempt on Jan 23.
It said laboratory analysis showed "the samples contained levels of chlorine that suggested the substance was used in weaponized form." The Kurdish allegation could not be independently confirmed.
Chlorine is a choking agent whose use as a chemical weapon dates back to World War One. It is banned under the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, which prohibits all use of toxic agents on the battlefield.
Peter Sawczak, spokesman for the Dutch-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, said: “We have not had a request from Iraq to investigate claims of use of chemical weapons in Iraq, and the OPCW cannot immediately verify the claims.”
Chlorine has been used “systematically” in the civil war in neighboring Syria, an OPCW fact-finding mission found last year. The OPCW would have to get its own samples to confirm the use of chemical weapons in a member state.
The Kurdish statement said the car bombing attempt happened on a highway between Mosul and the Syrian border. A Kurdish security source said that the peshmerga fired a rocket at the car carrying the bomb so there were no casualties, except for the suicide bomber.
About a dozen peshmerga fighters experienced symptoms of nausea, vomiting, dizziness or weakness, the source said.
The statement said the analysis was carried out in a European Union-certified laboratory after the soil and samples were sent by the Kurdish Regional Government to a "partner nation" in the U.S.-led coalition that is fighting Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.
The source described the samples as "leftovers from the suicide bomber", but declined to identify the laboratory.
The White House said in a statement it could not confirm the allegations but found them "deeply disturbing" and was monitoring the situation "very closely."
A US defense official said the use of chlorine as a weapon was a possible sign of "growing desperation due to the pressure being applied by coalition air power and Iraqi ground forces."
Iraq's Kurds were the victims of the deadliest chemical attack of modern times when Saddam Hussein's air force bombed the town of Halabja in 1988, gassing at least 5,000 people to death.
WEAPONS EXPERT KILLED
The US Central Command said on Jan. 30 that an Islamic State chemical weapons expert had been killed in a coalition air strike six days earlier near Mosul - the day after the car bombing cited in Saturday's statement.
The expert, Abu Malik, had been a chemical weapons engineer during the rule of Saddam Hussein and then affiliated himself with al Qaeda in Iraq in 2005, Central Command said at the time. When he joined Islamic State, it gave the insurgent force a chemical weapons capability, it added.
Malcolm Dando, professor of international security at the University of Bradford, and an expert on biological and chemical warfare, said chlorine was an easy gas to obtain. "It's extensively used, you only need to google industrial uses of chlorine, it's extensively used industrially," he told Reuters.
Western diplomats in The Hague, where the OPCW is based, have long feared IS fighters would get their hands on chemical weapons. It is not easy to make such weapons and IS tried to recruit experts when it took over Mosul last year, diplomatic sources told Reuters. They were not believed to have been successful.
Kurdish forces, backed by US-led air strikes, have taken a prominent role in fighting the Islamic State jihadists who last year declared a cross-border caliphate after seizing land in eastern Syria and northern Iraq.
No international organization has documented the use of chemical weapons on Iraqi territory in the war with Islamic State.
The Kurdish authorities said in their statement they had "long suspected that (IS) fighters have been using chemical agents" and cited video footage from recent battles around the city of Tikrit between the militants and Iraqi troops and allied Shi'ite militias where "plumes of orange smoke" were visible.
Reuters was also e-mailed video footage and photos of what the Kurdish Security Council identified as images from the Jan 23 attack. Among the photos were several canisters lying on the ground that the council says were found at the site and contained chlorine.
User Comments:
- First T-20 match without shakib and tamim india loss
- At the age of 85, goodbye to cricket
- Shakib Ranking position change
- Bangladesh ended the first day of the unbeaten century
- Saif Hassan disappointed the chosen in the first roles
- Proteas defeats the Lankan in 2nd ODI
- IDB expresses concern over changes in Islami Bank
- 20 potential ECS names nominated
- Could not believe that Sunny Leone wanted him in 'Laila Main Laila' Shah Rukh Khan
- India beat England in the 1st T20 match
- Look your best on Valentine's Day
- Priyanka said that India will always be identified
- Global banking rules agreement 'once the dust settles in the United States
- May trumpet as host of the first foreign leader
- Do not interfere in the Bangladesh case, Qadir says foreign
- Turkey's ambassador to Dhaka
- 'Ice Age: New trailer collision: the threat of global asteroids
- Bale hits real winner
- Woman found dead in a city hotel
- Withdrawal of unemployed nurses strike
- Tangail filed on Hindu murder case
- Foreign Minister meets King Abdullah Foundation trip in Saudi Arabia, Prince Turkey
- Hasina praised Bangladesh bowling sensation Mustafizur
- Rains in Sylhet, the heat wave plays extra time in the rest of Bangladesh
- BNP chief Khaleda sees more danger than ever before in Bangladesh
- I do not want it, I want to win: Dunga
- Asks the Bangladesh government to take a strong position against killer:Denmark
- My mom is not here to meet Neetu Kapoor, Katrina Kaif clear
- ICC World T20: England Qualify For Final
- Tonu murder sad every part of the army, says ISPR
- ADB Bangladesh sees FY GDP growing at 6.7% in 2015-16
- Court orders arrest of Khaleda's deadly bus firebombing in Dhaka
- Standard Chartered cards stop working due to a down server
- Corruption can progress obstruction of a country: President
- The uncertainty of the cloud cleared, Hero 420, released Friday
- To suggest pollution to protect your skin
- Trouble in Parliament to answer questions on the delay Interior Minister
- Hasina urges teachers to promote sports
- 5D can record human history!
- I'm still a child, says Kareena
- Saudi, Russia agreed oil production freeze
- Twenty20 World Cup announced
- The death of former chief Boutros-ghali UN
- Arrest warrant issued against Daily Star editor
- Per capita income of Bangladesh 2014-15, increasing to $ 1.316 in fiscal year
- Khaleda Zia subcommittees for BNP
- BSMMU Abdul Hannan appointed new Register
- Citizens can update fingerprints for the ceremony at the office
- Executes N Korea army chief
- Twenty20 Women World Cup team announced
- Star Journo concern over the threat to the leader, its editor
- US 'Intel warning of the details of the terrorist group in Bangladesh
- To be tried Padma bridge 'conspirators': Prime Minister
- Road crashes: High Court order on all hospital emergency service
- muslin and fund research: analyst
- Chief Justice appeal eats division into three judges
- Keraniganj prime murder suspect killed in shootout school Abdullah: RAB
- Bangladesh lost a High Court for staff accommodation
- ICT sentence Taher, Noni Netrokona death
- Ghazipur knife 2 DB
- French minister at the UN sends carbon pricing
- '' Now it Rabby no bar
- Khulna JCD President Kamran held
- Police want Bank Medical College
- Fakhrul went to Singapore for treatment
- Apple warns iPhone sales to fall
- Kristen Stewart speaks up on gender inequality
- China to increase JVs in Bangladesh
- Konta 33-year British drought to break beats Zhang
- India waives visa fees Bangladesh
- Patient's death: 2 CTG doctors get bail
- Specialised police to combat terrorism: PM
- The school forced students to buy additional books
- Romance to change you as a person does
- AL betrayed the spirit of liberation war: khalida
- World Cup 2015: Dhoni's men will be wary of Bangladesh
- An eve teasing incident scarred my life
- Man allegedly kill wife
- 44 years later widows receive justice: sajib wazed joy
- Employee bonuses decline at Cognizant
- Happy loses Lawyer
- Shamsul Hoque Khan School top....... in Dhaka broad
- BNP leader Nasir Uddin Ahmed Pinto dies
- Proteas defeats the Lankan in 2nd ODI
- Dr. Yunus...................Three Zero Theory
- Turkey's ambassador to Dhaka
- 20 potential ECS names nominated
- Mashrafe-Rubel broke the English lineup
- Think different! Try sex in storeroom
- Khaleda Zia subcommittees for BNP
- IDB expresses concern over changes in Islami Bank
- High Court says : Why not second time in DU
- Woman found dead in a city hotel
- Kim Kardashian to strip nude again
- Tangail filed on Hindu murder case
- Refused bail petition of ..... Ruhul Kabir Rizvi
- Could not believe that Sunny Leone wanted him in 'Laila Main Laila' Shah Rukh Khan
- Romance to change you as a person does
- Finance Minister AMA Muhith to place budget for seventh time... Budget
- Look your best on Valentine's Day