Baghdad, Sept22:Islamic State militants are suspected of firing a shell loaded with a chemical agent during an attack on USA and Iraqi troops in northern Iraq Tuesday, a Pentagon spokesman said.
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After it landed within the base, USA troops tested it and received a positive initial reading for mustard agent.
Air Commodore Martin Sampson of the RAF said that Britain has worked to shield and protect the Iraqi forces as they move forwards towards Mosul and other areas including Baghdad.
No one was injured in Tuesday’s blast near an airfield by the northern town of Qayyarah and no one showed any immediate signs of exposure to the suspected mustard agent, the official said.
He called the incident a “concerning development”.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford confirmed the attempted attack Thursday, according to The Hill.
Iraqi forces must retake Shirqat in order to secure its supply lines south of the Islamic State-held city of Mosul.
Tens of thousands of civilians are thought to have been trapped in Shirqat and its surrounding villages, which have been under Islamic State (ISIS / Daesh / ISIL) control since the group seized a third of Iraqi territory in 2014.
The attack came from a powdered mustard agent delivered in a mortar or rocket shell and fired on USA forces on Tuesday at the Qayyarah West air base near Mosul.
The agent, however, is said to have a “low purity” and “poorly weaponized”, an official said, with a second one calling it “ineffective”.
If the White House approves the request, American personnel officially deployed to Iraq would increase from 4,400 to about 4,900.
The defense official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said all of the forward-deployed US forces are equipped with protective gear, including a mask and suit.
The DAESH terrorist group is suspected of shelling a United States air base in northern Iraq with mustard gas.
Both Iraqi aircraft and the US-led coalition provided air support for the operation, the statement said. The substance was sent to a coalition-operated Iraq-based lab, and tests there were inconclusive.
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“New UK support will put in place critical stocks and supplies for basic life support such as food, shelter, sanitation facilities, and protection assistance ahead of Mosul military operations”, said Britain’s global development secretary, Priti Patel, in a statement.
