Iraqi Kurdistan says can prove ISIL used CWs

The government of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region says it is in possession of evidence that shows the Takfiri ISIL terrorist group used chlorine gas against Peshmerga forces.

The Security Council of Kurdistan Regional Government said in a Saturday statement that samples of clothing and soil from the site of a January 23 attack by the ISIL were examined by an independent laboratory in an unnamed country that is a member of the US-led coalition purportedly fighting ISIL.

The examination discovered chlorine traces in the samples, it said.

The statement further noted that the purported truck bomb attack occurred on a road between Iraq’s militant-held city of Mosul and the Syrian border, as Peshmerga forces fought to capture a key supply line used by the extremist militants.

The council said Kurdish forces later found “around 20 gas canisters” that the truck involved in the assault had been carrying.

“The fact [that] ISIL relies on such tactics demonstrates it has lost the initiative and is resorting to desperate measures,” the Kurdish government said.

Chlorine, an industrial chemical, could suffocate its victims to death when used as a weapon.

In October 2014, Iraqi officials said ISIL terrorists might have used chlorine-filled cylinders during fighting in late September that year in the towns of Balad and Duluiya.

The ISIL terrorists currently control parts of Iraq and the neighboring Syria, where they have committed heinous crimes.