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US: Shell that hit Iraqi base contained sulfur-mustard agent

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AP Washington
Last Updated : Sep 22 2016 | 11:32 PM IST
The top US general says a rocket that landed on a military base in northern Iraq contained chemical agents that cause human skin to blister.
Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford was asked at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing today about the disclosure a day earlier that the Islamic State may have attacked the base with chemical weapons.
US officials said today that an oily substance found on a fragment of the rocket initially tested positive for mustard agent, but that a second test was negative. They said further laboratory testing was scheduled.
Dunford said unequivocally that the weapon contained a "sulfur-mustard blister agent" and that no one was injured. He said the Islamic State has a rudimentary capability to deliver chemical weapons. Nonetheless, he called the attack a "concerning development.

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First Published: Sep 22 2016 | 11:32 PM IST

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