Military ready to destroy nerve gas plants MARINES TARGET ISIS LABS

British special forces are training for chemical war BRITISH troops are training to attack and destroy Islamic State’s chemical factories across the world.

The move comes amid intelligence warnings that extremists are stepping up their use of deadly gas and nerve agents on the battlefield.

Last week, coalition special forces were caught in an Isis chemical attack on Iraqi forces in Mosul.

In a series of secret war-games, Royal Marines and specialists from the RAF Regiment raided a mock chemical plant. The night-time exercise, codenamed Toxic Dagger, involved an assault on a mock sarin factory.

Wearing chemical suits and respirators, troops took five hours to seize the building. They were monitored by experts from the Defence Science and Technology unit.

More than 120 personnel from Bravo Company 40 Commando and 20 Wing RAF Regiment, the UK’s top chemical warfare unit, mounted the two-week exercise on Salisbury Plain.

The commando unit is currently the UK’s Lead Commando Group – on standby at 12 hours’ notice for operations anywhere in the world.

For the next 12 months the Somerset-based team will deploy aboard ships and be ready to support UK contingency missions, codenamed Operation Temperer.

A senior military source said in the past decade the UK had not given a high priority to countering chemical attacks. He added: JOE HINTON “All UK units train for chemical warfare but this is a specialist role to deal with a growing threat. It isn’t just about wearing the suit. “These Marines moved over a long distance at night wearing the suits and masks and then attacked and secured the mock lab. It was very realistic in order that we are ready to deal with the threat.” Earlier this month, dozens of civilians, including children, died in a gas attack by government forces in Syria. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence has admitted carrying out a string of experiments at its top-secret laboratories using the nerve agent VX. Officials say VX, one of the deadliest chemicals ever created, has been used in a series of recent animal experiments at Porton Down, near Salisbury. The MoD is trying to develop an antidote to the agent, which the UN has classed as a weapon of mass destruction. Just a tiny amount can kill a man in 15 minutes. The chemical came to public attention in February when it was used to kill Kim Jongnam, inset, the half-brother of the North Korean despot Kim Jong-un. An MoD spokesman said: “VX has been used by terrorists to attack the public so it is important we continue researching ways to counter it. “While we are taking steps to reduce the number of animals used, there is currently no other way of carrying out this potentially life-saving research.”