US Commander: Initial Tests Show ISIS Used Mustard Gas

Sulfur mustard is a Class 1 chemical agent, which means it has few uses outside chemical warfare. Gen. Kevin J. Killea, chief of staff, Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve.

The attack occurred in the town of Makhmour in northern Iraq near the front lines of the Kurdish forces’ fight against the Islamic State, according to Killea, who briefed reporters at the Pentagon on Friday. “Until we do other tests, we won’t be able to have a firm decision on exactly what happened there”, Killea said.

“We were able to take the fragments from some of those mortar rounds and do a field test… on those fragments, and they showed the presence of HD, or what is known as sulfur mustard”, Killea said in the Friday briefing.

Killea said the fact that the mortar fragments were delivered to U.S. forces several days after the attack, rather than collected directly by U.S. troops, could lead to some to question whether they had been deliberately contaminated with sulfur mustard.

IS has previously been accused of using chlorine gas against Kurdish fighters.

“So it is gonna take us a couple of weeks to do the full testing on those fragments to figure out what was contained in or on those mortar rounds, before we make a determination on exactly what it was, potentially how much it was and maybe even where it came from”.

They had been fired at Kurdish Peshmerga positions near Makhmour, close to the city of Irbil. Similar reports have surfaced in recent months, including in connection with an attack by Islamic State militants in Syria.

Mustard gas is a deadly blistering agent that was used extensively in World War I and can be dispersed by artillery shells and rockets.

Citing one official, CNN reported that the mustard agent used in Syria by the IS was more likely precursor chemicals, not the same type as those in Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s chemical arsenals, a sign that the group may have mixed chemical weapons on its own.

It’s unclear the place IS may need obtained chemical weapons.

“We continue to monitor these reports closely, and would further stress that any use of chemicals or biological material as a weapon is completely inconsistent with global standards and norms regarding such capabilities”, Baskey said in a statement.