Militant fighters of the ISIS launched on Wednesday an offensive on positions for the Kurdish Peshmerga forces in northern Iraq, using rockets filled with chlorine gas, officials said.
“Peshmerga positions in the Khazir district east of Mosul have been exposed to a new offensive at the hands of Daesh terrorists,” Khalid Razazi, a spokesman for the Peshmerga, said in Erbil, using an acronym for ISIS.
“The terror group bombed Peshmerga headquarters in Khazir with rockets filled with chemical agents,” the source reported.
At least nine Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers were killed and four more wounded in the attack.
The official pointed out that the injured have been transferred to a hospital in Erbil for treatment, “where investigations confirmed that the rockets fired by Daesh had been filled with chlorine gas”.
He added that the affected soldiers suffered burning in their noses and throats, and experienced vomiting subsequent to the attack.
“The Peshmerga responded to the offensive by bombing Daesh strongholds in Mosul with heavy artillery. Scores of terrorists were killed in the operation,” the Peshmerga spokesman said.
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