There are "extremely
worrying" signs that the ISIS may be making its own chemical weapons and
may have used them already in Iraq and Syria, a global watchdog said Tuesday.
The head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Ahmet Uzumcu, said his body's fact-finding teams have found evidence of the use of sulphur mustard in attacks in the two countries.
"Although they could not attribute this to Daesh... there are strong suspicions that they may have used it (chemical weapons)," Uzumcu told AFP, using the alternative name for the jihadist group.
"Secondly the suspicions are that they may have produced it themselves, which is extremely worrying. It proves that they have the technology, know-how and also access to the materials which might be used for the production of chemical weapons,’’ Uzumcu said on the sidelines of a three-day conference at the OPCW's Hague-based headquarters.
CIA director John Brennan in February told CBS News that ISIS fighters had the capability to make small quantities of chlorine and mustard gas.
The head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Ahmet Uzumcu, said his body's fact-finding teams have found evidence of the use of sulphur mustard in attacks in the two countries.
"Although they could not attribute this to Daesh... there are strong suspicions that they may have used it (chemical weapons)," Uzumcu told AFP, using the alternative name for the jihadist group.
"Secondly the suspicions are that they may have produced it themselves, which is extremely worrying. It proves that they have the technology, know-how and also access to the materials which might be used for the production of chemical weapons,’’ Uzumcu said on the sidelines of a three-day conference at the OPCW's Hague-based headquarters.
CIA director John Brennan in February told CBS News that ISIS fighters had the capability to make small quantities of chlorine and mustard gas.