Agency: IS target civilians with chemical weapons in Mosul’s Zanjili
Members of the Islamic State.
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State militants used chemical weapons in their current battles with Iraqi forces around western Mosul’s Old City, their last stronghold in the region, causing civilian injuries, a news report said Wednesday.
Russian news agency Sputnik said the chemical attack on Zanjili district caused injuries to 13 civilians, including women and children, saying it was the ninth time IS militants prove their use of chemical warfare since operations launched by the Iraqi government in October to retake Mosul.
The agency said the latest attack was carried out with four mortar missiles laden with poisonous chlorine, adding that medical tests verified the substance’s use.
The report did not mention an exact timing of the reported attack, but instances of chemical weapons use have been recurrently reported since an inventory of chemical arms was discovered by Iraqi forces inside laboratories of Mosul University in the eastern side of Mosul, which government troops took over in January.
The United Nations had previously confirmed cases of civilians being treated for symptoms of what seemed to be chemical agents.
Iraqi government forces are currently battling IS out of the a handful of districts around the Old City, the medieval neighborhood where the group’s supreme leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared the establishment of the group’s rule in Iraq and Syria in 2014.