|
WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- The extremist group Islamic State (IS) may have fired a shell containing mustard agent onto a Iraqi military base where U.S. troops were present, local media said on Wednesday.
No U.S. troops were injured or had shown symptoms of exposure to mustard agent when the shell landed on the Qayarrah air base, about 60 km south of Mosul, the city occupied by IS since June, 2014, according to CNN.
Citing U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, CNN reported that the mustard agent had "low purity," was "poorly weaponized" and "ineffective."
Early this year, U.S. defense officials said that an IS detainee who was captured in February in Iraq by U.S. special operations force revealed during interrogation that IS had planned to use mustard gas in Iraq and Syria.
The IS operative was reportedly identified as Sleiman Daoud al-Afari, a chemical and biological weapons expert who once worked for Iraq's Saddam Hussein government.
However, U.S. defense officials then believed that the mustard gas, weaponized by the IS into powered form, was expected to be not concentrated enough to kill anyone.
