US-led coalition airstrikes have hit the chemical weapons sites of the self-styled Islamic State terrorist group, according to the Pentagon.
Officials have said they were acting on information from a former Saddam-era biological weapons expert.
“The air bombardment, which took place on Thursday, is believed to have degraded the chemical weapons capabilities of IS in Iraq,” Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement, AFP reported.
“The strikes were conducted following crucial information from a captured senior insurgent,” he added.
Sulayman Dawud al-Bakkar, the militant group’s head of chemical and traditional weapons manufacturing, was detained by US-led coalition forces in February. Al-Bakkar gave details about IS’ chemical weapons facilities and production and the people involved, Cook said.
The CIA is concerned the militant group has the ability to produce the toxic arms, which are widely considered to be weapons of mass destruction.
Al-Bakkar, also known as Abu Dawud, was a former chemical and biological weapons expert under Saddam Hussein’s regime. Iraqi intelligence officials said he is about 50 years old. He has since been turned over to the Iraqi government. Cook said the US does not believe it has been able to eliminate all of IS’s chemical weapons capability.
US intelligence officials believe IS militants have carried out at least 12 mustard gas attacks and three others are likely.
Germany’s Defense Ministry has also claimed that the militant group has used chemical weapons on Kudish peshmerga.
