Iraqi officials say the Islamic State launched two chemical attacks near the northern city of Kirkuk last week, killing a young girl and wounding 600 people.
Twice in four days the town of Taza, which is about 20 kilometers south of Kirkuk, was hit by a barrage of rockets, allegedly carrying chemical agents. Hundreds of people were injured in the attacks.
A nurse at the Taza hospital said the wounded are suffering from infected burns, suffocation and dehydration. A three-year-old girl died from exposure. A spokesperson for the Iraqi Commission for Human Rights said the girl died from respiratory complications and kidney failure, caused by a mustard agent.
Other Iraqi officials said chlorine may have been used.
IS has used both chemical agents in the past. It is a tactic that has caused few fatalities but has a big psychological impact.
The U.S. military captured one of the Islamic State’s top chemical-weapons experts in a recent raid in northern Iraq. A Pentagon official said the U.S.- led coalition has carried out air strikes that it believes have degraded the chemical weapons capability of IS in Iraq after using information obtained from a captured militant.
U.S. Army Colonel Steve Warren said chemical threat is legitimate but added, it is not a high threat. Experts also say the extremist group appears incapable of launching a large-scale chemical weapon's attack.