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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Iraqi officials: U.S. captured top IS chemical arms engineer

Qassim Abdul-Zahra

BAGHDAD – U.S. special forces captured the head of the Islamic State group’s unit trying to develop chemical weapons in a raid last month in northern Iraq, Iraqi and U.S. officials told the Associated Press, the first known major success of Washington’s more aggressive policy of pursuing IS militants on the ground.

The Obama administration launched the new strategy in December, deploying a commando force to Iraq that it said would be dedicated to capturing and killing IS leaders in clandestine operations, as well as generating intelligence leading to more raids.

U.S. officials said last week the expeditionary team had captured an Islamic State leader but had refused to identify him, saying only he had been held for two or three weeks and was being questioned.

Two Iraqi intelligence officials identified the man as Sleiman Daoud al-Afari, who worked for Saddam Hussein’s now-dissolved Military Industrialization Authority where he specialized in chemical and biological weapons. They said al-Afari, who is about 50 years old, heads the Islamic State group’s recently established branch for the research and development of chemical weapons.

He was captured in a raid near the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar, the officials said. In Washington, U.S. officials confirmed al-Afari’s identity.

The officials, who both have firsthand knowledge of the individual and of the IS chemical program, spoke on condition of anonymity.

A U.S. official said Wednesday that one or more follow-up airstrikes were conducted against suspected IS chemical facilities in northern Iraq in recent days. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence-related operations, was unfamiliar with details of the airstrikes but indicated they did not fully eliminate IS’ suspected chemical threat.

The U.S.-led coalition began targeting IS’ chemical weapons infrastructure with airstrikes and special operations raids over the past two months, the Iraqi intelligence officials and a Western security official in Baghdad told the AP.

Airstrikes are targeting laboratories and equipment, and further special forces raids targeting chemical weapons experts are planned, the intelligence officials said.

IS has been making a determined effort to develop chemical weapons, Iraqi and American officials have said. The militant group, which emerged out of al-Qaida in Iraq, is believed to have set up a special unit for chemical weapons research, made up of Iraqi scientists from the Saddam-era weapons program as well as foreign experts.

Still, IS’ progress in developing chemical weapons has been limited. It is believed to have created limited amounts of mustard gas. Tests confirmed mustard gas was used in a town in Syria when IS was launching attacks there in August 2015.

But so far, experts say, the extremist group appears incapable of launching a large-scale chemical weapons attack, which requires not only expertise, but also the proper equipment, materials and a supply chain to produce enough of the chemical agent to pose a significant threat.

Speaking to reporters from a base outside the city of Tikrit, Iraq’s defense minister played down fears of the Islamic State group’s chemical weapons capabilities, saying the group lacks “chemical capabilities.”

The attacks the group has carried out, Khaled al-Obaidi said, were intended to “hurt the morale of our fighters,” as they have so far not caused any casualties.