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ERBIL (Reuters) - Islamic State fighters fired mortar rounds containing mustard agent at Kurdish peshmerga fighters in northern Iraq during clashes in August, the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs, which oversees Kurdish armed forces there, said on Wednesday.
Blood samples taken from around 35 fighters who were exposed in the attack southwest of the regional capital Erbil, along with an examination of wounds, showed "signatures of sulfur mustard", the ministry said in a statement.
It did not say if any of the peshmerga had died as a result of the attack or how severely they had been wounded.
Mustard gas, which can burn skin and mucus tissue and cause severe respiratory problems, is banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention, an arms treaty intended to stop the use of chemical weapons.
