Marine Corps)Islamic State militants are suspected of firing a shell loaded with a chemical agent during an attack on U.S. and Iraqi troops in northern Iraq on Tuesday, a Pentagon spokesman said. If confirmed, it would be the first recorded chemical attack on U.S. troops since the Islamic State overran parts of northern and western Iraq in 2014. U.S. troops often deploy with protection against chemical weapons, including gas masks. The Islamic State has used chemical weapons, in the past, most notably against Kurdish peshmerga positions in northern Iraq. Earlier this month U.S. and coalition aircraft targeted a converted pharmaceutical factory in northern Iraq thought to have been a chemical weapons production facility.

Source: Washington Post September 21, 2016 23:51 UTC