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Safin Hamed / AFP / Getty Images
Kurdish authorities in Iraq said Friday they believe their Peshmerga forces have been attacked with chemical weapons, possibly chlorine gas, by fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
The Kurdistan Region Security Council said it was investigating multiple attacks by ISIL against Peshmerga positions, including in Makhmour, southwest of Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region, earlier this week."Initial reporting indicates chemical agents were fired in the form of projectiles, possibly mortar rounds," the council said in a statement. "Several Peshmerga officers were treated for dizziness, vomiting and general weakness, while some are receiving treatment for burns."
It was the third report of suspected chemical weapons use on the Iraqi battlefield this year.
The U.S. Central Command said Thursday that the U.S. and Iraq were investigating reports that ISIL may have used a chemical agent, possibly mustard gas, in an attack in northern Iraq.
Central Command spokesman Col. Pat Ryder said, "We’ve seen those reports. We’re taking them seriously. We’re looking into them, but at this point we really don’t know what — if anything — may have been used."
Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon by conference call, Ryder would not say how the allegation of chemical weapons use came to light, except to say the U.S. was working with both Iraqi and Kurdish authorities to investigate the claims.
Ryder said the reports are being taken seriously because ISIL is “a dangerous adversary.”
“When we look at the press coverage this week in terms of the kinds of things they do, in terms of sexual slavery, or kidnapping, beheading, et cetera, they have clearly demonstrated they are a barbaric inhumane enemy," Ryder said.
Chlorine's use as a weapon is prohibited under the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention. If inhaled, chlorine gas turns to hydrochloric acid in the lungs and can kill by burning lungs and drowning victims in the resulting bodily fluids.
Chemical weapons stockpiles in Iraq and Syria have been destroyed by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague.
With additional reporting from Reuters
About 60 Kurdish fighters report breathing difficulties, according to the German military officials training them
Kurdistan Region Security Council says testing confirms ISIL used chlorine gas against Peshmerga fighters
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