IS may be making chemical arms, warns watchdog
May 03, 2016 23:16
There are "extremely worrying" signs that the Islamic State group may be making its own chemical arms and have used them already in Iraq and Syria, a global watchdog said today, AFP reported.
Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons head Ahmed Uzumcu said that his body's fact-finding teams have found evidence of the use of sulphur mustard in attacks in the two war-torn countries.
"Although they could not attribute this to Daesh... there are strong suspicions that they may have used it (chemical weapons)," Uzumcu told AFP, using the alternative name for the jihadist group.
"Secondly the suspicions are that they may have produced it themselves, which is extremely worrying," Uzumcu said on the sidelines of a three-day conference at the OPCW's Hague-based headquarters.
"It proves that they have the technology, know-how and also access to the materials which might be used for the production of chemical weapons," Uzumcu said.
CIA director John Brennan in February told CBS News that IS fighters had the capability to make small quantities of chlorine and mustard gas.
Uzumcu did not point to any specific attacks, but last month IS mounted a deadly gas attack against Syrian troops at a government-controlled airbase outside the divided eastern city of Deir Ezzor, according to the SANA state news agency.
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