UN inspectors warned that insurgents in Iraq were using chlorine to kill and wound civilians and could, given the country’s expertise in chemical arms in the past, develop other weapons-grade toxic agents. Media reports have showed that insurgents are using toxic chemicals, such as chlorine, combined with explosives for dispersal, the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, known as UNMOVIC, said in a report to the Security Council posted on its Web site on Tuesday. “Such attacks have resulted in the killing of tens and injuring of hundreds of people throughout Iraq,” UNMOVIC said.
There have been at least 10 attacks using chlorine, and several others were attempted and foiled by security forces, said UNMOVIC in its quarterly report, dated May 29. “Given the current security situation in Iraq, it is possible that some non-state actors will continue to seek to acquire toxic agents or their chemical precursors in small quantities,” the report said. In addition, “non-state actors could also seek to acquire other, more toxic agents that are either indigenously produced or procured from abroad,” it said.
The survey, prepared by UNMOVIC’s acting executive chairman, Dimitri Perricos, pointed to the expertise Iraq had in producing chemical weapons “with hundreds of scientific and technical personnel having been involved in the past chemical weapons programme.”
Another danger was the availability and possible misuse of dual-use chemical production equipment, previously monitored by UN inspectors until they left Iraq shortly before the US-led invasion in 2003. Coalition forces have not allowed the monitors to return since then. Through satellite imagery, UNMOVIC said, it identified a number of buildings and structures that used to contain such equipment but had been demolished or damaged by 2004. However, the fate of the equipment, even in buildings that remained intact, was unknown, UNMOVIC said.