Reports from Syria and Iraq have confirmed that the Islamic State (Isis) used improvised chemical bombs against civilians and Kurdish militia groups in many of its recent suicide attacks.
According to an independent investigation by two organisations, the Isis used deadly gases, including chlroine. The investigation by Conflict Armament Research (CAR) and Sahan Research, which sent in a joint team to verify the allegations, found them to be true.
It is being reported that missiles filled with deadly chemical substances were also fired at Kurdish forces.
The fact-finding team has confirmed to CNN that at least on three occasions in June, the Isis was found to have used chemical munitions.
Two of the chemical attacks took place in Hasakah province in northern Syria, while on one occasion a 120mm mortar filled with chemical agents was fired upon the Kurdish forces near the Mosul Dam in northern Iraq, according to CNN.
James Bevan, executive director of CAR, told CNN that after the bomb exploded several Kurdish fighters and civilians lost consciousness. Some also complained of severe pain "from the waist down, resulting in temporary, localised paralysis", he said.
Past incidents
Earlier, during the war in Kobani, the Islamic State militants had used mustard gas (blister agent) against the Kurdish fighters.
Kurdish health minister Nisan Ahmed had later said the bodies of Kurdish fighters showed no signs of damage from bullets but had "burns and white spots [that] iindicated the use of chemicals, which led to death without any visible wounds or external bleeding".
Israeli experts, after analysing the blisters formed on the bodies on several Kurdish soldiers, found that it was caused by mustard gas.
Isis had also used chlorine gas to attack Iraqi security officials in Duluiyah, following which the the United States had ordered a probe into the matter in October 2014.
