US tests for mustard agent after rocket attack near Iraq base
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WASHINGTON -- The US military is testing to see if a chemical agent may have been used in a rocket attack in Iraq by ISIS that came within hundreds of yards of US forces but injured no one, a US military official said on Wednesday.
The rocket fell on Tuesday in an unpopulated area near the Qayyara West base, where hundreds of US forces are working to prepare an airfield ahead of Iraq's offensive to retake the city of Mosul from the radical group ISIS, said the official, who spoke with Pentagon reporters on condition of anonymity.
A group of US forces inspected the fragments afterwards and took a small sample of a suspicious "tar-like, black, oily" substance, which initially tested positive for mustard agent but then tested negative in a subsequent examination, the official said. Further tests were underway. The incident was first reported by CNN.
