Use of Mustard gas by ISIS plausible: Washington

The ISIS which has often boasted about enhanced weapons in its possession is believed to have used Mustard Gas against the Iraqi Kurd fighters last week.

US intelligence agencies have said in the past they believed Islamic State has used chlorine gas in attacks in Iraq, the Journal reported.

“ISIS is a group that has demonstrated time and again its willingness to stop at nothing”, the official said. The Assad regime also had sarin and VX, which are far more risky, but there is no evidence that ISIS has those chemical weapons.

While it is usually not fatal, according to the CDC, it can cause blistering of the skin, eye pain and blindness, as well as respiratory problems.

It contained much of the remains of Saddam Hussein’s chemical weapons stockpile, not all of which was destroyed after his fall.

The use of Mustard Gas was reported by the Iraqi Kurd fighters.

Inspectors, however, have subsequently said they weren’t able to verify claims by the Syrian government that it had burned hundreds of tons of mustard agent in earthen pits. Rockets had been filled with the gas and fired upon them.

Daily reports released by Central Command show that the number of air strikes in late July essentially remained flat, suggesting that the airplanes involved the strikes were, in fact, finding targets and releasing a larger proportion of their weapons.

August 14 Islamic State militants attacked the outskirts of Iraq’s northern oil refinery town of Baiji overnight with auto bombs and clashed with the army and Shi’ite militias in the town’s western districts, the local mayor and security sources said on Friday. It was first used in the World War I to incapacitate the enemy in large numbers.

Islamic State has taken control of territory in Syria close to where President Bashar al-Assad’s forces stored chemical weapons, including mustard agent.

A person who is affected by the Mustard Gas does not show any symptoms upto 12 hours.