IS said to experiment on prisoners with chemical weapons

The Islamic State terror group is reportedly testing out chemical weapons on prisoners and has moved operations to residential areas.

According to residents of the IS-held Iraqi city of Mosul, who spoke with the UK’s Telegraph, the terror group set up laboratories in the heart of population centers to avoid being targeted in air strikes by coalition forces.

According to the report, the Islamic State has a special chemical weapons unit made up of Iraqi scientists who worked under Saddam Hussein. The head of the unit was captured earlier this year and has reportedly been sharing information with the US-led coalition against the Islamic State.

The new head, according to a citizen journalists group called Sound and Picture, also a scientist who worked under Hussein’s rule, moved the group’s operations away from the University of Mosul to populated residential areas.

The group says a number of homes were taken over by IS terrorists and residents reported seeing a high number of dead animals in trash bins, in a suggested indication of chemical testing.

The group also says prisoners of IS have been the subjects of testing of such weapons, namely chlorine and mustard gas.

According to the report, residents living near an IS prison in al-Andalus, have reported breathing difficulties and severe rashes among children, which may indicate exposure to the substances.

The terror group is believed to have large quantities of chlorine and has been experimenting with mustard gas.

The group has already used chemical weapons in attacks against Syrian state troops and Kurdish Peshmerga forces.

Last month, the group mounted a deadly gas attack against Syrian troops at a besieged eastern airbase outside the divided eastern city of Deir el-Zour., state news agency SANA said.

SANA did not say precisely how many soldiers had been killed in the attack.

“Daesh (IS) terrorists attacked Deir el-Zour military airport with rockets carrying mustard gas, causing some people to suffocate,” it reported late Monday.

On March 9, a suspected IS gas attack on the Iraqi town of Taza, south of Kirkuk, killed three children and wounded some 1,500 people, with injuries ranging from burns to rashes and respiratory problems.

While the chemical agents allegedly used by IS so far have been among their least effective weapons, the psychological impact on civilians is considerable.

A total of 25,000 people fled their homes in and around Taza last month, fearing another attack.

Deir el-Zour province is vital for Islamic State because it lies between its de facto Syrian and Iraqi capitals Raqqa and Mosul.