Kurdish Official Says ISIS Used Chemical Weapons

Kurdish Official Says ISIS Used Chemical Weapons
KIRKUK, IRAQ - MARCH 13: A peshmerga fighter plants a Kurdish flag atop a new earth berm position as Iraqi Kurdish forces push the frontline forward against ISIS forces in the Tal al-Ward district 20 miles southwest of Kirkuk, Iraq, on March 13, 2015. These peshmerga units of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) faction have made significant gains against villages held by ISIS, in concert with an Iraqi government and Shiite militia attack further south to free Tikrit from ISIS control, with a joint aim of squeezing the jihadist militants from Iraq. Since ISIS swept from Syria in June, 2014, Kurdish forces in northern Iraq have expanded their control over oil-rich territories disputed with Baghdad such as Kirkuk and its oil and gas facilities. (Photo by Scott Peterson/Getty Images)
KIRKUK, IRAQ - MARCH 13: A peshmerga fighter plants a Kurdish flag atop a new earth berm position as Iraqi Kurdish forces push the frontline forward against ISIS forces in the Tal al-Ward district 20 miles southwest of Kirkuk, Iraq, on March 13, 2015. These peshmerga units of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) faction have made significant gains against villages held by ISIS, in concert with an Iraqi government and Shiite militia attack further south to free Tikrit from ISIS control, with a joint aim of squeezing the jihadist militants from Iraq. Since ISIS swept from Syria in June, 2014, Kurdish forces in northern Iraq have expanded their control over oil-rich territories disputed with Baghdad such as Kirkuk and its oil and gas facilities. (Photo by Scott Peterson/Getty Images)

ERBIL, March 16 (Reuters) - A Kurdish military official said on Monday he had evidence Islamic State has used chlorine as a chemical weapon against peshmerga forces three times in northern Iraq.

General Aziz Waisi, who said his forces were exposed to the chemical, said the insurgents had used chlorine in a December attack in the Sinjar area and in two others in January west of Mosul, including a Jan. 23 attack described by Kurdish authorities on Saturday. (Reporting By Isabel Coles; Writing by Maggie Fick)

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