More IS chemical attacks reported
Kurdish forces investigate claims by fighters in Iraq
IRBIL, Iraq – Kurdish forces in Iraq are investigating two other possible chemical weapons attacks by the Islamic State group, a top official said Monday, as authorities put an Iraqi offensive to retake Saddam Hussein’s hometown on hold.
The two purported chemical weapon assaults resemble one claimed Saturday by Kurdish officials who say an independent laboratory concluded the militants used chlorine gas against its peshmerga forces in a Jan. 23 truck suicide attack. However, their claims were not immediately verified by international authorities.
Iraqi officials and Kurds fighting in Syria have made similar allegations about the militants using the low-grade chemical weapons against them. The Islamic State group, which controls a third of Syria and Iraq in its self-declared caliphate, has not commented on the claims.
Gen. Aziz Wesi, in charge of a Kurdish special forces brigade, told journalists Monday that authorities declined to immediately discuss the two newly announced attacks when they happened Dec. 26 and Jan. 18 out of fears of causing a panic.
Kurdish officials have offered footage of the aftermath of the Dec. 26 attack, which shows fighters coughing and pouring water over their heads after another suicide truck bombing that authorities say wounded about 60 men.
“I put a wet scarf on my face because when I saw the gas, I felt it,” said Capt. Mohammad Sewdin, who leads the Kurdish special forces unit targeted in the December attack. “I was afraid it might be something like (chemical weapons). So I told my men to do the same.”
Sewdin told the Associated Press he was temporarily blinded for six hours after the attack and coughed up blood. He and others were hospitalized.
On Saturday, the Kurdistan Region Security Council offered video and lab results it said proved the Islamic State group used chlorine in the Jan. 23 suicide truck bomb.
There has been no independent confirmation of any of the Kurds’ claims. Peter Sawczak, a spokesman for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which has monitored Syria dismantling its chemical weapons stockpile, said Monday that no member state had requested an investigation into the Kurdish claims.
“We’re concerned about any allegation of chemical weapons use,” Sawczak said. “We’re in touch daily with Iraq about the security situation.”
Peshmerga fighters also recaptured three villages Monday from the Islamic State group west of Kirkuk with the help of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, Sheikh Jaafar Barzanchi said.
Meanwhile Monday, Iraqi Interior Minister Mohammed Salem al-Ghabban said the offensive to retake the Islamic State-held city of Tikrit will be on hold until civilians in Saddam Hussein’s hometown can flee and roadside bombs can be cleared.
Speaking to reporters from the nearby city of Samarra, he said Islamic State militants booby-trapped roads and buildings leading into Tikrit, slowing the Iraqi forces, aided by Iranian advisers.
“The militants are squeezed into a small part of the city center,” al-Ghabban said.