The Pentagon believes ISIS launched a chemical attack on U.S. and Iraqi troops at a military base in northern Iraq Tuesday. What’s reported to be a rocket or artillery shell landed several hundred yards from a U.S. base near Mosul. A “tar-like black oily substance” was found on the shell; initial field tests conducted were inconclusive, but one test did register the presence of the chemical agent believed to be mustard. “Mustard agent is a powder that can be placed in the hollow tip of an artillery shell or rocket,” according to ABC News. “Exposure at a place of impact could cause blistering, but the agent dissipates quickly and does not spread over a wide area.”
Here’s more from CNN:
One official said the agent had “low purity” and was “poorly weaponized.” A second official called it “ineffective …” A US defense official said troops had gone out to look at the ordnance after it landed… US troops involved in the incident went through decontamination showers as a precaution. No troops have shown any symptoms of exposure, such as skin blistering.
“Unless you are right next to [the shell], exposure is unlikely,” a U.S. official told Fox News. Even still, the suspected chemical nature of the attack in the vicinity of U.S. forces, if confirmed, would be the first documented case of a chemical attack carried out against U.S. forces in Iraq. It is not, however, the first time chemical weapons have been used by ISIS in the country; there have been 20 previous documented cases of chemical attacks against Kurdish fighters, according to the BBC.