Pentagon suspects IS using chemical weapons in Iraq

28/08/2015

On last Friday, the Pentagon said that initial tests indicated that the militant group Islamic State (IS) may have used a chemical weapon against Kurdish forces in Iraq earlier this month.
Fragments from some mortar rounds fired by the IS near Makhmour in Iraq tested positive for sulfur mustard agent, said US Brigadier General Kevin Killea in a Pentagon briefing. The Pentagon, however, cautioned that a definite assessment could only be made after more testing.

Killea said, “That is a presumptive field test and it is not conclusive, and what those results tell us is merely the presence of that chemical, it doesn’t tell us anything more than that.”
According to the reports, US senior officials said test results from another IS attack in Syria three weeks ago also confirmed the group used a mustard agent as a weapon.

The report further stretches that that the mustard agent used in Syria by the IS was more likely to be precursor chemicals — not the same type as those in Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s chemical arsenal — a sign that the group may have mixed chemical weapons on its own.

Last Update:: 28/08/2015

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