Germany says Kurdish forces in Iraq have come under a chemical attack by Daesh (ISIL)

The German Defense Ministry says Daesh terrorists have launched a chemical attack on Kurdish forces fighting the militants in northern Iraq.

“A chemical weapons strike took place on the Kurdish front … west of the city of Makhmour, 40 kilometers southwest of Erbil [the capital of Iraq’s semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan]” on Wednesday night, read a report issued by the ministry.

A spokesman for the German Defense Ministry also confirmed the incident, adding, “American and Iraqi specialists from Baghdad are on their way to find out what happened.”

According to the official, Daesh militants used mortar or artillery shells to target Kurdish forces with chlorine gas.

The spokesman also stated that some Kurdish fighters suffered respiratory problems as a result of the attack, which did not affect German military trainers, who accompanied Kurdish fighters at the site of the incident, he added.

“German soldiers were not affected or in danger … The protection of our soldiers in northern Iraq is already at the highest level,” he stressed.

Over the past months, Berlin has dispatched tens of its soldiers to Kurdistan in a bid to train Peshmerga forces. Some 88 German troops are currently in Erbil.