Iraq tells U.N. Sunni Extremist Group Seize Chemical Weapons Site
Written by : Mohamed Abdel Fattah
Jul 08, 2014
Iraq's Ambassador to the United Nations says that the Islamic State extremist group has taken control of a vast former chemical weapons facility northwest of Baghdad and it is unable to fulfill its international obligations to destroy toxins kept there.
Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim announced the development in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that was made public on July 8.
It says militants on June 11 seized the Muthanna facility north of Baghdad, where remnants of a former chemical weapons program were kept in two bunkers.
"The project management spotted at dawn on Thursday, 12 June 2014, through the camera surveillance system, the looting of some of the project equipment and appliances, before the terrorists disabled the surveillance system," Alhakim wrote in the letter dated June 30.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISISL) , the Sunni extremist group that has seized large swaths of Iraq's north and west in recent weeks and seeks to create an Islamic territory across both sides of the Syria-Iraq border.
ISIS militants last week captured and temporarily held an Iraqi post on the Jordan border, a crossing that is roughly 70 kilometers (43 miles) from Saudi territory.
Last week, the group declared the establishment of a caliphate ruled by Shariah law in the land it controls in Iraq and neighboring Syria.
The Iraqi military launched an offensive late last month aimed at recapturing the northern city of Tikrit from the militants. The military has claimed some gains, but the insurgents remain firmly in control of the city and have harried the army with roadside bombs.
The government has also struggled for months to wrest back ground lost west of Baghdad in the Sunni-dominated province of Anbar.
A senior Iraqi general Negm Abdullah Ali , commander of the army's sixth division was killed in fighting with insurgents near Baghdad on Monday, as the army fights to hold militants back from the capital.
There was also violence in Baghdad's Shia neighbourhood of Kadhimiyah. A suicide bomber drove a vehicle packed with explosives into a checkpoint, killing five policemen and three civilians, according to a police official.
Top U.S. defence officials said last week the security forces could defend the capital but would have difficulty going on the offensive to recapture lost territory, mainly because of logistic weaknesses.
However, Iraq’s parliament stalled Monday for a second time, canceling its planned Tuesday session for delaying the formation of a new government for weeks despite the threat from extremists who have seized control of a large chunk of the country and declared the establishment of an Islamic state.
Sources
AP
Reuters
kuna.net.
Jul 08, 2014
Iraq's Ambassador to the United Nations says that the Islamic State extremist group has taken control of a vast former chemical weapons facility northwest of Baghdad and it is unable to fulfill its international obligations to destroy toxins kept there.
Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim announced the development in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that was made public on July 8.
It says militants on June 11 seized the Muthanna facility north of Baghdad, where remnants of a former chemical weapons program were kept in two bunkers.
"The project management spotted at dawn on Thursday, 12 June 2014, through the camera surveillance system, the looting of some of the project equipment and appliances, before the terrorists disabled the surveillance system," Alhakim wrote in the letter dated June 30.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISISL) , the Sunni extremist group that has seized large swaths of Iraq's north and west in recent weeks and seeks to create an Islamic territory across both sides of the Syria-Iraq border.
ISIS militants last week captured and temporarily held an Iraqi post on the Jordan border, a crossing that is roughly 70 kilometers (43 miles) from Saudi territory.
Last week, the group declared the establishment of a caliphate ruled by Shariah law in the land it controls in Iraq and neighboring Syria.
The Iraqi military launched an offensive late last month aimed at recapturing the northern city of Tikrit from the militants. The military has claimed some gains, but the insurgents remain firmly in control of the city and have harried the army with roadside bombs.
The government has also struggled for months to wrest back ground lost west of Baghdad in the Sunni-dominated province of Anbar.
A senior Iraqi general Negm Abdullah Ali , commander of the army's sixth division was killed in fighting with insurgents near Baghdad on Monday, as the army fights to hold militants back from the capital.
There was also violence in Baghdad's Shia neighbourhood of Kadhimiyah. A suicide bomber drove a vehicle packed with explosives into a checkpoint, killing five policemen and three civilians, according to a police official.
Top U.S. defence officials said last week the security forces could defend the capital but would have difficulty going on the offensive to recapture lost territory, mainly because of logistic weaknesses.
However, Iraq’s parliament stalled Monday for a second time, canceling its planned Tuesday session for delaying the formation of a new government for weeks despite the threat from extremists who have seized control of a large chunk of the country and declared the establishment of an Islamic state.
Sources
AP
Reuters
kuna.net.
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