UN compiles evidence on using chemical weapons by ISIS in Iraq
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – UN investigators are compiling evidence on the development and use of chemical weapons by Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq after they seized about a third of the country in 2014, Christian Ritscher, the head of the investigative team, said Wednesday.
Ritscher told the UN Security Council that survivors of a March 2016 chemical attack against Taza Khurmatu, a mainly Shia Turkmen town south of Kirkuk in northeast Iraq, were still deeply impacted when he visited earlier this year.
ISIS “weaponized several chemical agents and deployed these as chemical rockets and mortars, as well as improvised explosive devices, in the vicinity of Taza Khurmatu” which hit residential neighborhoods and agricultural fields, according to Ritscher.
More than 6,000 residents were treated for injuries and two children died within days of exposure while many survivors continue to suffer chronic and ongoing effects, according to the investigators.
ISIS seized Iraqi cities and declared a self-styled caliphate in a large swath of territory in Syria and Iraq in 2014. However, the group was formally declared defeated in Iraq in 2017 following a three-year bloody battle that left tens of thousands dead and cities in ruins. ISIS sleeper cells continue to stage attacks in different parts of Iraq and Syria.
Ritscher said the UN Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes committed by ISIS, known as UNITAD, is also prioritizing “persons of interest” living in other countries and is currently supporting criminal proceedings against alleged members and supporters of ISIS in 17 countries.
UNITAD headed by Ritscher, was established by the Security Council in 2017 to collect evidence so perpetrators of crimes by ISIS can be held accountable at trials. It has worked closely with Iraqi judicial officials.