AhlulBayt News Agency - ABNA - Shia News
http://en.abna24.comhttp://en.abna24.com/service/middle-east-west-asia/archive/2016/03/12/740532/story.html
At least 400 injuries reported in ISIS chemical attack in Kirkuk, Iraq
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) announced that the number of people attacked with mustard gas in Taza Khurmatu, south of Kirkuk province in northern Iraq, have exceeded 400 people, after radicals of the ISIS hit the area with missiles carrying chemical substances on the town.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) announced that the number of people attacked with mustard gas in Taza Khurmatu, south of Kirkuk province in northern Iraq, have exceeded 400 people, after radicals of the ISIS hit the area with missiles carrying chemical substances on the town.
“The number of people attacked with poisonous gas in Taza Khurmatu reached 409 civilians after ISIS bombarded the area with missiles contain mustard gas and chemicals over the past two days,” Masrour Aswad, member of the Board of Commissioners, said in a press statement.
The Human Rights official pointed out that the injuries varied from one person to another as burns appeared on different parts of their bodies with sudden tumors and skin bubbles on their faces.
The affected people suffered burning in their noses and throats as well.
“Many cases of red-eyes, dry lips, fainting, vomiting and difficulty in breathing were seen in the attacked area,” he said, warning of constant growing in the number of injuries.
Also, the governor of Kirkuk, Najm al-Din Karim, has revealed Wednesday that ISIS extremists attacked the village of Taza, south of Kirkuk, on Tuesday night with rocket-propelled that contained toxic substances, pointing out “around forty people suffered suffocation from inhaling the gas of the rockets that hit their area.”
ISIS chemical attacks coincide with heavy airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition on the group’s strongholds in Iraq, amid continuous ground operations by the Kurdish Peshmerga forces and Iraqi army troops in a bid to regain Mosul–ISIS main bastion in northern Iraq.
The U.S.-led coalition had earlier stressed that “ISIS holds chemical weapons and mustard gas”.
Last week, the extremist group launched an offensive on positions for the Kurdish Peshmerga forces in northern Iraq, using rockets filled with chlorine gas, according to Kurdish officials. At least nine Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers were killed and four more wounded in the attack.
