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Times of Israel: IS may have used chemical weapons against Kurds
Health officials in the town of Kobani near the Turkish border have claimed that the Islamic State used chemical weapons in July.
According to The Times of Israel, Kurdish functionaries claim to have evidence of the attacks and claim that chemical agents may have been used more than once.
Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center’s Global Research in International Affairs (Gloria) center complied several accounts of the alleged chemical weapons attacks, which it claims took place on 12 July in the village of Avdiko.
The health minister in Kobani, Nisan Ahmed, said photos of fighters killed during fighting in Avdiko had no visible wounds or bleeding. Some photos, said to have been examined by Israeli experts, apparently showed peeling skin, white spots and severe burns.
The nature of the injuries was consistent with exposure to mustard gas, according to the Gloria centre.
While it remains unknown if the reports are correct, it is known that IS took control of a chemical weapons facility near Baghdad.
Mustard gas is a chemical agent famously sued in the first world war. It creates large blisters on the skin and inside the lungs. It was also used against the Kurds by Saddam Hussein in the 1980s.
In Kobani, Kurdish militiamen continue to hold the town against IS. Today Susan Rice, the US national security adviser, said that Turkey ahd agreed to let allied forces use bases on Turkish soil to carry out operations in Iraq and Syria, and to train moderate rebels.