Fears IS could have nuclear material for ‘dirty bomb’

THERE were fears last night that Islamic State could obtain a recently stolen radioactive material to make a ‘dirty bomb’.

The material – in a case the size of a laptop – was stolen from a storage facility near Basra in southern Iraq.

It is said to have belonged to US oilfield services company Weatherford, and is used to test oil and gas pipelines.

Officials fear it could be used by IS, sometimes referred to as Daesh, to make a device that combines nuclear material with conventional explosives to contaminate an area with deadly radiation.

A dirty bomb differs from a nuclear weapon, which uses nuclear fission technology to trigger a much more powerful blast.

The Iraqi government is searching for the material, which went missing in November. A senior environment ministry official based in Basra, who declined to be named, said: ‘ We are afraid the radioactive element will fall into the hands of Daesh. They could simply attach it to explosives to make a dirty bomb.’ Authorities are also worried that whoever stole the material would mishandle it, leading to radioactive pollution of ‘catastrophic proportions’.

There was no indication the material had yet come into the possession of IS, which

‘Simply attach it

to explosives’

seized territory in Iraq and Syria in 2014 but does not control territory near Basra.

A spokesman for Basra operations command, responsible for security in Basra province, said army, police and intelligence forces were working ‘day and night’ to locate the material.

The radioactive material could cause harm simply by being left exposed in a public place for several days, according to physicist David Albright, of the Institute for Science and International Security.

A spokesman for Weatherford declined to comment last night.

Meanwhile, a cash crisis has forced IS to slash salaries and ask residents in capital Raqqa to pay utility bills in black-market US dollars.

Money is so tight it is even offering to release detainees for a price of $500 (£350) each. Measures such as air strikes have eroded millions from its finances.

Supplies are dwindling in its urban centres, leading to shortages and widespread inflation, according to exiles and those still under its rule.

In Raqqa salaries have been halved since December, electricity is rationed, and prices for basics are spiralling out of reach, according to people exiled from the city.

A Raqqa activist now living in Turkey said: ‘Not just the militants. Any civil servant, from the courts to the schools, they cut their salary by 50 per cent.’