Syria Kurds say IS used chemical weapons -experts

90 DEAD, 17 MISSING IN IRAQ CAR

BOMBING: NEW TOLL

BEIRUT, July 18 (AFP) -The Islamic State group fired chemical weapons against Kurdish forces in Syria and Iraq last month, Kurdish fighters and weapons experts have said.

The Conflict Armament Research (CAR) group and Sahan Research said in a statement Friday that IS targeted Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga with a projectile filled with a chemical agent on June 21 or 22.

The organisations also documented two such attacks against Kurdish fighters from the People's Protection Units (YPG) in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province on June 28.

The YPG said the attacks targeted the Kurdish-held Salhiya district of Hasakeh city and Kurdish positions south of the town of Tel Brak.

“Upon impact, the projectiles released a yellow gas with a strong smell of rotten onions,” the YPG said in a statement on Friday.

It added that the ground around the impact sites was stained with a liquid that was green at first but turned yellow on contact with sunlight.

“Our troops exposed to the gas experienced burning of the throat, eyes and nose, combined with severe headaches, muscle pain and impaired concentration and mobility. Prolonged exposure to the chemicals also caused vomiting.” The YPG reported no deaths in the attacks and said that exposed forces subsequently recovered from their symptoms.

They added that YPG fighters had captured industrial-grade gas masks from IS forces in recent weeks “confirming that they are prepared and equipped for chemical warfare along this sector of the front.” CAR and Sahan Research, who conducted research in coordination with Kurdish forces, said in a joint statement that seven projectiles were fired in the Hasakeh city attack, and 17 in the attack near Tal Brak. 'Projectile-delivered chemical agents'

They said urine samples taken from those affected in the Tal Brak attack tested positive for a compound that is commonly found in agricultural pesticides.

But they had no definitive answer yet on the precise chemical composition of the agents that had been used in the two attacks in Syria.

The chemical used in the Iraq attack had characteristics and clinical effects “consistent with a chlorine chemical agent,” the groups said.

They said the three attacks in the two countries were “the first documented use by IS forces of projectiledelivered chemical agents against Kurdish forces and civilian targets.” “Although these chemical attacks appear to be test cases, we expect IS

KHAN BANI SAAD, Iraq, July 18 (AFP) - The toll for a massive suicide car bomb attack carried out by the Islamic State group north of Baghdad rose to 90 dead and 17 missing today.

The top official in Khan Bani Saad, the predominantly Shiite town 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of Baghdad where the attack occurred on Friday, put the number of wounded at 120.

“The toll so far is 90 martyrs and 120 wounded, and we have between 17 and 20 missing,” Abbas Hadi Saleh told AFP at the scene.

He said 15 children were killed in the attack, which ripped through the heart of the town's market area as people were shopping on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of Ramadan.

“Every year (during Ramadan) there's a bombing. We are guilty of being Shiite,” Saleh said. “This is the biggest in Diyala since 2003.” Khan Bani Saad is located in Diyala province, which the government declared free of IS in January but where sporadic attacks have been on the rise in recent weeks.

IS said Friday's suicide bomber had three tonnes of explosives in his vehicle. The death toll is one of the highest since the jihadists launched their nationwide offensive in June 2014.

An AFP correspondent said the blast caused massive destruction and left a crater in the street that is five metres wide and two deep (16 feet wide and more than six deep). construction skills to advance rapidly as they have for other IEDS (improvised explosive devices),” said Emmanuel Deisser, managing director at Sahan Research.

IS has been accused of using chlorine against Kurdish forces in Iraq before.

In March, the autonomous Kurdish government in northern Iraq said it had evidence that the jihadist group used chlorine in a car bomb attack on January 23.

Chemical weapons have also been deployed in the Syrian conflict on multiple occasions.

By far the deadliest incident, in August 2013, involved the use of sarin gas and killed up to 1,400 people in a rebel-held Damascus suburb.

The Syrian opposition and much of the international community blamed the attack on the Damascus government.

Syria denied responsibility but subsequently surrendered its arsenal of chemical weapons under a UNbacked agreement.

There have since been a number of reported attacks using chlorine.

Some have been confirmed by the international chemical weapons watchdog but it did not say who carried them out.