Three-year-old Iraqi girl Fatima Samir died in a hospital today, the victim of a chemical weapons attack by ISIS against a target in Taza, just south of the city of Kirkuk. Dozens were hospitalized in the attack, and she is the lone fatality.
Officials say rockets were fired from the ISIS-held town of Bashir, not far away, and people began coming down with symptoms of a blister agent. Four people remain in serious condition from similar injuries from the gas.
ISIS has carried out a growing number of attacks with rudimentary chemical weapons, having acquired some basic capability to produce such agents, and having looted a number of empty shells left over from Iraq and Syria’s former weapons programs.
The Pentagon commented today on ISIS growing use of such weapons, saying it’s “not a high threat” to military forces operating in the area. The US has, however, targeted a pair of ISIS chemical weapons facilities in recent days.
