Iraq officials confirm chlorine gas attack by ISIS in ‘strange explosion’ of ‘yellow smoke in the sky’
Eleven Iraqi police officers were taken to hospital after an ISIS chemical weapons attack, with the Defense Ministry and doctors confirmed, revealed that the gas was chlorine. While accusations have swirled that Islamic State militants possessed these weapons, this is the first confirmation.
Now ISIS has “chemical weapons”?
Screenshot from YouTube video of Islamic State militants “thanking” Washington for their “new” weapons
The Sunni extremists attacked Duluiyah, located north of the capital, back in mid-September, firing on the Jabbour tribe, who were guarding the town’s borders.
“It was a strange explosion. We saw yellow smoke in the sky,” said Lt. Khairalla al-Jabbouri, one of the survivors.
The victims talked of the fog that hung close to the ground – a possible indication that it was chlorine, which is heavier than air. The physicians who treated them also confirmed that their diagnosis was poisoning by chlorine gas.
“They were panicked; we were panicked,” said Kasim Hatim, director of the hospital in the nearby city of Balad, where the officers were taken. “We initially thought it might be a more serious gas, a nerve gas or an organophosphate.”
U.S. officials were hesitant to confirm the reports.
“We continue to take all allegations of C.W. use — and in particular these recent allegations regarding the use of chlorine as a chemical weapon — very seriously,” National Security Council spokesman Alistair Baskey said. “We are aware of the reports but cannot confirm details and are seeking additional information. The use of chlorine as a chemical weapon is an abhorrent act. These recent allegations underscore the importance of our work to eliminate chemical weapons in this volatile region.”
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons noted in September that chlorine gas was being used in parts of the conflict in Syria, where the Islamic State is also fighting. The United States has attributed those attacks to the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
According to more details from the Washington Post “reports were circulating that there was a chemical attack in the besieged Syrian town of Kobani on Tuesday.”
Chlorine, a common component in industry, is sold legally, but its use as a weapon violates the Chemical Weapons Convention. It was widely employed in trench warfare during World War I, including infamously at Ypres in Belgium, where German forces dispersed more than 160 tons of chlorine into the breeze, killing thousands of French and Allied soldiers,” the article also stated.
