ISIS unleashes WW1 chemical weapons after finding Saddam Hussein's secret WMD stash
01.03.2016 11:30
The terror group is believed to have used chlorine – a lethal agent dating back to World War 1 – against US-backed Kurdish fighters and civilians in northern Iraq.
Dozens of people in the Sinjar area suffered from nausea and vomiting after homemade missiles were fired at them on Thursday.
The shells contained a chemical substance that caused the symptoms, the Kurdistan Region Security Council said.
Iraqi militia has uncovered empty canisters of corrosive chemicals in sites recently controlled by ISIS – suggesting the militants have swiped the poison.
Chlorine is used to keep swimming pools and toilets sanitary.
But at high concentrations, it is extremely toxic for all living organisms and was used in WW1 as the first gaseous chemical warfare agent.
Chlorine gas blinds victims' and attacks their breathing system almost immediately, flooding the lungs and causing suffocation.
Survivors often suffer chronic respiratory problems.
Chemical weapons have been banned since the Geneva Protocol of 1925 – most recently re-affirmed in 1997.
But ISIS – also known as Daesh – has no respect for international law.
A spokesman for the Kurdish authority – whose fighters are known as "the Peshmerga" – said: "If confirmed this will be eighth ISIS weaponised chemical attack against Peshmerga.
"ISIS tactics continue to become more sophisticated.”
Earlier this month, lab tests confirmed that sulphur mustard was used on the battlefield in Iraq last August – affecting nearly 35 Peshmerga fighters.
It was the first known instance of chemical weapons use in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Iraqi militia have discovered two sites with substantial stocks of plastic canisters containing Vinyltrichlorosilane – which the UN designates as "corrosive”.
The stash was uncovered in central Iraq, not far from the city of Ramadi – which was controlled by ISIS until it was liberated by the Iraqi Army in January.
Some of the canisters were empty – suggesting they had been raided by ISIS.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons also concluded in October that mustard gas had been used in neighbouring Syria last year.
The Syrian government gave up its own supply of chemical weapons under international supervision after hundreds of civilians were killed with sarin nerve gas in a Damascus suburb in 2013.
(dailystar.co.uk)
www.ann.az
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