KUALA LUMPUR: The VX nerve agent used in the murder of Kim Jong-nam on Feb 13 was reported to have been widely used during the Halabja massacre in Iraq by Saddam Hussein in 1988. The story of the VX nerve agent surfaced in Malaysia when Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar revealed that VX was found following preliminary analysis of dry swabs of the eye mucosa and face taken from Jong-nam. It was reported that the VX nerve agent could have been possibly used earlier during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. The use of another type of deadly nerve agent, sarin, was reported in the rebel held suburbs of Ghouta, near Damascus, Syria, on Aug 21, 2013. It was reported that sarin was used in the surface-to-surface artillery rocket attack that killed about 1,000 people there.

Source: The Star February 25, 2017 02:31 UTC