US Investigates Possible ISIS Chemical Weapons Use

The New York Times also reported that “more than 2,400 nerve-agent rockets [were] unearthed in 2006 at a former Republican Guard compound”, yet “the Pentagon continued to withhold data, leaving the public misinformed as discoveries of chemical weapons accelerated sharply”.

The attack in question took place late Wednesday, about 40 miles southwest of Erbil in northern Iraq.

“We have indications that there was an attack with chemical weapons” against Kurdish peshmerga fighters that left many suffering from “respiratory irritation”, a German defence ministry spokesman told AFP yesterday.

A senior administration official told The Wall Street Journal the U.S. had no information to suggest that ISIS obtained weapons from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s arsenal, caches the U.S. believes he continues to hide.

A Peshmerga officer, Brig.

Ryder declined to say whether the United States has sent independent inspectors to verify the attacks.

“Initial reporting indicates chemical agents were fired in the form of projectiles, possibly mortar rounds”, the council said in a statement.

However, worldwide inspectors never confirmed that all mustard gas was destroyed, according to the Wall Street Journal report. The substance has not yet been tested, though samples have been given to coalition members, Barzani said.

Barzani said that emphasized that encountering such a substance so far from Irbil “is very unsafe”, and he said there was an urgent need for protective gear.

In March, the autonomous Kurdish government in northern Iraq said it had evidence that the jihadist group used chlorine in a vehicle bomb attack on January 23.

On Thursday night, the CBS Evening News omitted reports that the Islamic terrorist group ISIS used chemical weapons in multiple attacks in Iraq over the past week against Kurdish forces the group claimed responsibility for a bombing in Iraq earlier in the day.

If ISIS has access to chemical weapons, this could be a devastating turning point in ongoing military actions against this group. “We think they have used it”. The agent was developed during World War I and was banned by treaty in 1993.

They noted that there are many kinds of blistering agents that cause similar skin reactions to those seen in the attack.

Syria subsequently agreed to elimination of its stockpile of chemical weapons under a deal that was initially put forward by Russian Federation as a way to head off Washington’s possible use of force against Damascus.

U.S. intelligence agencies thought Islamic State had at least a small supply of mustard agent even before this week’s clash with Iraqi Kurdish fighters, known as the Peshmerga, U.S. officials said.