Citing a report provided to the government of Iraqi-controlled Kurdistan by the Conflict Armament Research and Sahan Research think tanks, the newspaper said that the investigators registered three incidents in which ISIL fired chemical mortar shells at Kurd positions in recent weeks.
The most clear case was registered on June 21 or 22, when a 120-millimeter chemical mortar shell hit a Kurdish position near Mosul Dam in northern Iraq. The munition did not explode and was recovered for analysis.
“Soon we should have an exact composition of the chemical in this projectile, but I am certain it is chlorine,” Gregory Robin from Sahan Research said as quoted by the newspaper.
Chlorine is classified as a “choking agent,” burning the lungs, and has lethal consequences when inhaled in large quantities.
Since late 2014, there have been multiple reports from Kurdish officials, as well as from Iraqi and Syrian authorities and medical staff that the ISIL has been using bombs filled with chemical agents.
In December, the Syrian government warned the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) that armed groups had seized several industrial areas in Syria where chlorine-containing substances were stored.
Damascus has been in the process of eliminating its chemical arsenal with the help of the OPCW.
