Daesh Uses Chemical Weapons against Kurds in Northern Iraq
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Daesh (ISIL) militants used chemical weapons in an attack on Kurdish Peshmerga forces in northern Iraq on Saturday, injuring at least 14 people, media reports said Sunday.
According to local Peshmerga Commander Gwer-Makhmour Sirwan Barzani, Daesh (ISIL) militants conducted their attack late on Saturday.
They used heavy equipment to diffuse the poisonous gas, he added, Sputnik cited local news agency Rudaw as reporting on Sunday.
“The state of those injured Peshmerga troops is stable,” Barzani said as cited by Rudaw. “After a counter-attack by Kurdish forces, the situation at the battlefield has stabilized.”
It was earlier reported that Daesh terrorists employed chemical weapons on May 9 in the course of battles in Iraqi Kurdistan.
The militants have allegedly set up production of chlorine service projectiles and other chemical weapons in the laboratories of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, considered the extremists’ primary stronghold in the country.
Iraqi Kurdistan has been an autonomous region within Iraq since the 1990s. The region hosts the Kurdish government, including its parliament and president, as well as the military forces of Peshmerga, consisting of 120,000 servicemen.
Since 2014, Peshmerga has been fighting with Daesh, taking part in a number of bloody battles.
