ISIL attempting to develop chemical weapons: Australia

Australia has warned that the Takfiri ISIL terrorist group is recruiting highly-trained technicians in an attempt to develop chemical weapons, Press. TV reported.

 “The use of chlorine by Daesh (an Arabic acronym for ISIL), and its recruitment of highly technically trained professionals, including from the West, have revealed far more serious efforts in chemical weapons development, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said during a speech in the city of Perth late Friday.

Bishop further warned that the Takfiri group “is likely to have amongst its tens of thousands of recruits the technical expertise necessary to further refine precursor materials and build chemical weapons.”

Calling for global efforts to prevent the proliferation and use of toxic chemicals, the top Australian diplomat added that the rise of terror groups such as ISIL is among the security threats to the world.

Back in March, the government in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region said that it had evidence of the use of chlorine gas by ISIL extremists against Kurdish Peshmerga forces.

The Security Council of Kurdistan Regional Government said that samples of clothing and soil from the site of a January 23 attack by the ISIL showed traces of the toxic gas.

In October 2014, Iraqi officials also said the ISIL terrorists might have used chlorine-filled cylinders during fighting in late September that year in the city of Balad and the town of Dhuluiya, both located north of the capital city of Baghdad.

Meanwhile, the Syrian government has on numerous occasions warned the Takfiri groups operating in the country use chemical arms such as chlorine gas in their operations against the government forces.

Western states and their Arab allies, however, accuse Damascus of using such types of weapons although Syria has already destroyed almost all of its chemical stockpile under the supervision of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

The ISIL militants currently control parts of eastern Syria as well as Iraq’s northern and western regions.

The Western governments have contributed to the rise of ISIL by sponsoring the militants fighting against the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria since 2011.

Approximately 100 Australians are said to be fighting in the ranks of ISIL in Syria and Iraq.

M. Wassouf