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ISIS uses chemical weapons against US troops

Steve

Well-known member
Isil launch first mustard gas attack on US troops since WWI and rig entire chemical plant with explosives

“It was mustard agent in a powderised form – the same thing we have seen [Isil] use to little effect many times in the past in both Syria and Iraq,” said navy captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, adding that the agent was "low-grade" and poorly weaponised. “The device, likely a rocket or mortar, was imprecise and crude."

Nevertheless the use of chemical weapons will be of great concern to ground forces as they advance towards Mosul, which was overrun by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) in the summer of 2014 and continues to be a stronghold for the militants.

While it is the first chemical attack against US troops, there have been 20 documented cases of chemical weapons being used against the Kurdish Peshmerga army, which has been moving in on the city from the east for the past few months.


Colonel Hamish de Bretton Gordon, former commanding officer of the UK Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment (CBRN), who has been advising and training the Peshmerga in Kurdistan, said troops should be prepared for bigger and more lethal chemical attacks.

He told the Telegraph that Peshmerga commanders have intelligence that Isil has rigged a chemical plant at Misraq with explosives. The plant lies just 25 miles south of Mosul and six miles north of where the US troops are at Qayyarah.

An explosion at Misraq, which holds thousands of tonnes of sulphur dioxide and hydrogen sulphide, could be catastrophic.

Col de Bretton Gordon’s predicts the fallout of such an explosion could have a radius of six-10 miles - meaning Iraqi, and any supporting US, forces would be at risk.

A fire at the plant in 2003 burned for a month before it could be extinguished. The blaze released half a million tonnes of sulphur dioxide into the air, damaging the ozone layer, hospitalising hundreds and killing all vegetation for miles.

"They're going to throw the kitchen sink at any army that comes near Mosul," he said. "It's going to be an long and ugly battle."






Hydrogen sulfide It is a colorless gas with the characteristic foul odor of rotten eggs; it is heavier than air, very poisonous, corrosive, flammable, and explosive.

Hydrogen sulfide was used as a chemical weapon during World War I. It was not considered to be an ideal war gas, but, while other gases were in short supply, it was used on two occasions in 1916.[36]

In 1975, a hydrogen sulfide release from an oil drilling operation in Denver City, Texas, killed nine people.



Sulfur dioxide (also sulphur dioxide) At standard atmosphere, it is a toxic gas with a pungent, irritating smell.
Sulfur dioxide is toxic in large amounts Inhaling sulfur dioxide is associated with increased respiratory symptoms and disease, difficulty in breathing

If the explosion is designed to release disperse and not burn, then this could go really bad really quick, these b-$7---$ will martyr them selves and take countless innocent people with them.
 
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