Mustard gas used in ISIS attack, Germany says

Germany's foreign intelligence agency BND has collected evidence ISIS jihadists used mustard gas in an attack in Iraq, a German newspaper reported Monday.

BND intelligence agents collected blood samples from Kurds who were wounded in clashes with the jihadists, the German daily Bild reported Monday.

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It quoted BND chief Gerhard Schindler as saying that the agency has "information that [ISIS] used mustard gas in northern Iraq."

Schindler told the paper the gas either came from old Iraqi stockpiles produced under Saddam Hussein's rule or was manufactured by ISIS after it seized the University of Mosul.

A senior German intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the matter publicly, confirmed the comments attributed to Schindler. He declined to confirm that the BND collected blood samples or discuss the agency's methods.

U.S. Defence Department spokeswoman Cmdr. Elissa Smith said "while we will not comment on intelligence or operational matters, let us be clear: any use by any party of a chemical as a weapon of any kind is an abhorrent act."

"Given the alleged behaviour of ISIL and other such groups in the region, any such flagrant disregard for international standards and norms is reprehensible," Smith said, using an alternative name for the militant group.

Earlier attack

Activists said last month that ISIS attacked the northern Syrian town of Marea with poisonous gas although it was not clear whether chemical weapons were used.

Doctors Without Borders said four patients exhibiting symptoms of exposure to chemical agents were treated at a hospital run by international medical organization in northern Syria on Aug. 21.

It said the parents and their two daughters arrived at a hospital run by the group one hour after the attack, suffering from respiratory difficulties, inflamed skin, red eyes and conjunctivitis, and that their conditions worsened later.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Turkey-based activist Abu al-Hassan Marea said no independent confirmation of a chemical attack had been made.