ISIS Chemical Weapons Expert Killed By Airstrike In Iraq

 

Kurdish Peshmerga fighter aims his weapon through a hole in a wall on the front line of fighting against Islamic State militants in the outskirts of Mosul

An Islamic State chemical weapons expert who was trained by Sadam Hussein was killed by US forces in a coalition airstrike near Mosul, Iraq, the U.S. Central Command said in a statement on Friday. DailyMail reports:

Abu Malik, who was killed Jan. 24, had been a chemical weapons engineer during the rule of Saddam Hussein and then affiliated himself with al Qaeda Iraq in 2005, Central Command said. When he joined Islamic State, also known as ISIL, it gave the insurgent force a chemical weapons capability, the statement said.

“His death is expected to temporarily degrade and disrupt the terrorist network and diminish ISIL’s ability to potentially produce and use chemical weapons against innocent people,” the statement said.