The Islamic State is believed to have acquired radioactive materials and tools needed to make a variety of chemical weapons, Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said recently.
In an interview with The Australian on Tuesday, Bishop said that the terror group stole the materials from hospitals and research facilities in Iraqi and Syrian cities seized by the jihadist group.
Bishop said the recent reports have raised fears that IS could build a “dirty” bomb.
The foreign minister’s remarks come several days after she warned a chemical weapons monitoring group that IS was attempting to developing poison gas weapons and was likely to have fighters in its ranks with the technical expertise to develop them.
Bishop told the paper her comments were based on intelligence uncovered by Australia’s Defense Department and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
“The insurgents did not just clear out the cash from local banks,” Bishop told the paper, and said the theft of materials usually held by governments underscored the urgency of stopping IS’ advance across the Iraq and Syria.
Bishop said that NATO was made aware of the Australian intelligence and were reportedly “deeply concerned” by the developments.
A number of experts have recently warned that IS is likely to carry out an attack in Iraq and Syria to mark the first anniversary of their capture of the city of Mosul, when their leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared an Islamic caliphate, according to the Australian report.
The Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank, said in the article that the June 10 anniversary also coincides with the upcoming month-long Muslim holiday of Ramadan, and expressed concerns that Shiite holy sites across the Middle East could be possible targets.
During Bishop’s speech in Perth Friday to the Australia Group — an informal coalition of over 40 countries dedicated to the non-proliferation of chemical weapons — the foreign minister said that Australia had no doubt that the Syrian regime had used toxic chemicals including sarin and chlorine over the past four years, weapons which were now being utilized by the Islamic State.
“The use of chlorine by Daesh, and its recruitment of highly technically trained professionals, including from the West, have revealed far more serious efforts in chemical weapons development,” she said using the Arabic acronym for IS.
“Daesh is likely to have among its tens of thousands of recruits the technical expertise necessary to further refine precursor materials and build chemical weapons.”
The use of chlorine in homemade bombs has been reported in several parts of Iraq and Syria, with car and roadside bombs easy to rig with chlorine canisters.
