Stark warning from UN that ISIS killers fleeing Middle East could launch chemical weapon attacks in major European cities
Islamic State militants have used mustard gas in the past
ISIS killers fleeing Iraq and Syria could launch devastating chemical weapons attacks on UK cities, warns a UN expert.
Islamic State militants returning from Syria could carry out mustard gas attacks after learning how to use the toxic substance in battle zones, a senior official from the global chemical weapons watchdog has warned.
An inquiry by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) claimed that Syrian government forces were responsible for chlorine gas attacks and that Islamic State militants had used mustard gas.
ISIS has suffered a string of military defeats this year and experts fear jihadists from Europe could return and wreak terror at home.
"It seems that one of the dangers that we need to face and have a response for - since Islamic State has learnt how to make mustard gas - is that sadly one of the people who learnt how to do it comes back to one of our countries and helps carry out an attack like this," Philippe Denier, director at the verification division of the OPCW told a defence conference in Paris.
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Western officials are increasingly worried that Islamic State, which is fighting to defend territory it seized in Syria and Iraq, will call on its followers and jihadists returning from the region to increase attacks in the West.
Experts have warned the fanatics could unleash deadly chemical bombs in the battle to halt their loss of the city of Mosul in Iraq.
Columb Strack, senior analyst and head of the IHS Conflict Monitor, told Mirror Online there is a “high risk” of ISIS using chemical weapons.
He warned: “As the Islamic State loses ground around Mosul, there is a high risk of the group using chemical weapons to slow down and demoralise advancing enemy forces, and to potentially make an example of and take revenge on civilian dissidents within the city.”