The head of ISIS’s chemical weapons unit has allegedly been captured by U.S. Special Forces during a raid near the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar last month – and he’s claiming some pretty scary stuff.
Last week, U.S. officials reported that they had an ISIS leader in detention and he’s now been named as Sleiman Daud al-Afari. Two Iraqi officials claim he worked for Saddam Hussein where he specialised in chemical and biological weapons, and has been an integral part of ISIS since its inception, The Independent reports.
He’s being held at a temporary detention centre in Erbil, Iraq under the interrogation of the United States – and he’s offering up some crucial info.
Al-Afari has told officials that ISIS is in possession of ‘mustard gas’, a chemical agent that causes severe burning of the skin, eyes and respiratory tract.
‘How Stuff Works’ explains it in gruesome detail:
After a mustard gas attack, you might think nothing more about it for a few hours or even a day. But eventually you would see red spots forming on your skin that quickly turned into painful blisters. If you underwent a direct attack and inhaled mustard gas, it wouldn’t take long to feel pain and swelling in your nose and throat as the blisters developed, sealing your airway.
The longer the exposure to mustard gas, the greater the damage it causes.
A defence official told The New York Post that although the mustard gas was not ‘concentrated enough’ to kill someone, it could definitely impair someone.
The New York Post says after the US military has completed the interrogation process, al-Afari will be transferred to Iraqi and Kurdish authorities.
Scary stuff…
