Report: ISIS possibly using chemical weapons in Iraq

IRBIL, Iraq -- Kurdish forces in Iraq are reportedly investigating at least two possible chemical weapons attacks by ISIS, the New York Times reports.

A top level official told the Times that the purported chemical weapons attacks occurred recently near ongoing fighting in Irbil, Iraq. A laboratory allegedly concluded that chlorine gas was used against Kurdish fighters on Jan. 23, Kurdish officials told the Times.  Claims were not independently verified, the Times reports.

The attacks were not announced when they occurred, Kurdish special forces agents told the Times, out of fears of causing a panic. Chlorine gas was used heavily in Wold War I, and again on insurgents in the Iraqi War of 2007. The gas is often deadly.

Kurdish officials have released video showing fighters coughing and pouring water over their heads, the New York Times reports. One reported victim told the Associated Press he was temporarily blinded for six hours following the attack.

A spokesman for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Peter Sawczak, told the Times that though the claims haven't been verified, they are "concerned about any allegation of chemical weapons use."

Monday is the 27th anniversary of the 1988 Halabja massacre, also known as Bloody Friday, a day when Saddam Hussein unleashed chemical weapons  on the Kurdish city of Halabja, killing around 5,000 people, mostly civilians.

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