The U.S. intelligence community has been tracking a number of confirmed chemical attacks by ISIS where powdered mustard agent was used in artillery shells, the official said.
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It was unclear how the Islamic State obtained sulfur mustard, a banned substance with a narrow chemical warfare application.
Since the weekend, the USA has struck what it is calling “improvised weapons facilities” and other targets near Mosul, Iraq, but officials would not say if these were chemical weapons sites.
Two Iraq officials speaking on condition of anonymity identified the detainee as Sleiman Daoud al-Afari, a former chemical and biological weapons expert in Saddam Hussein’s Military Industrialization Authority, The Associated Press reported. But a recent operation mounted by Delta Force Commando inside Iraq may have disrupted future chemical attacks by ISIS. Several thousand have arrived. That is the same model once used by the Joint Special Operations Command in Iraq and Afghanistan, which tore through al Qaeda’s leadership hierarchy in a wave of night raids that scooped up high-level detainees.
On Capitol Hill, Gen. Joseph Votel, the head of U.S. Special Operations Command, told a Senate panel that he has “concerns about our broader strategy against ISIL” – but stopped short of recommending any changes to the current plan.
The material revealed details about Islamic State leaders and its clandestine financial system, including how it raised and stored cash.
The United States has been leading a coalition waging airstrikes against IS in Iraq and Syria for more than a year.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) visited the prisoner after it was notified of his capture by USA officials, the paper adds.
In a statement to the BBC, the Pentagon would not confirm his capture.
Defense Minister Khaled al-Obaidi played down Islamic State’s.
It could not immediately be learned if there were Iraqi forces took part in the raid to capture the man, or whether Iraqis were involved in the airstrikes. The Islamic State reportedly sent him to Shadadi to help stem battlefield losses and bolster fighters’ morale. His loss deprives the Islamic State a seasoned leader who had been a key recruiter of foreign fighters, Cook said.
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The operative, whose name was not released, was captured during a US special operations raid about a month ago, officials said, and is in USA custody in Irbil in northern Iraq.
