Washington Post: An Iraqi scientist helped the state organization manufacture chemical weapons

A report by The Washington Post said that the Islamic state organization had established a chemical weapons production industry with the help of Iraqi experts working with successive Iraqi governments. The report attributed this report to Western officials, saying that this production is unique in the history of "modern terrorist" organizations, .

The newspaper quoted that information in an exclusive report, quoting statements that an Iraqi scientist who was responsible for the chemical weapons production program of the organization, made during an investigation by officials responsible for combating "terrorism" Americans and Kurds.

She added that this scientist is a geologist Sulaiman al-Afri, 52, who has been detained in Erbil by Kurdish Peshmerga forces since 2016, before the return of control of the Iraqi government on the city of Mosul, and is now awaiting execution.

A sudden display
According to the Washington Post, Suleiman told how he joined the organization and worked with him to produce mustard gas, saying that he was hoping - for the entry of the nascent state organization - to keep his job in the Ministry of Industry and Minerals in Mosul, because it is impossible to get a job in Iraq after losing it , But was surprised by the offer of the envoys of the organization a new job on him is to help in the manufacture of chemical weapons.

He confirmed that his mission with the organization lasted 15 months, during which he supervised the manufacture of mustard gas. Suleiman al-Afri is a gentle, neat and orderly, one of the few who have been known to have participated in the state-run chemical weapons production program and captured them alive.

The newspaper said that the statements made by Afri confirmed by Kurdish and American officials involved in missions to destroy the weapons factories of the organization and the killing of senior leaders, and these statements shed new light on the program in question, including university labs and manufacturing facilities and cadres of scientists and technicians have participated.

Supply Officer
Al-Afri, who was in charge of supplies at the Iraqi Ministry of Industry and Minerals, said that his division attracted special attention from state officials who visited his office a few weeks after their takeover of Mosul and asked him to take the task of bringing in special metal equipment , Including tanks, tubes and valves, all of which are stainless steel and resistant to chemical corrosion and high temperatures.

Afri admitted that his role was to regulate the supply of mustard gas by processing a range of laboratories and small workshops broadcast from the University of Mosul to the outskirts of the city, expressing his belief that the gas they produced can not be found more dangerous, according to the Washington Post.

The newspaper added that it is certain that the knowledge and skills obtained by the organization of the state of Afri and others is still in the possession of the organization hidden in files and electronic preservation devices, or in the memory of participants of the program who are still alive and dispersed by the collapse of the "Caliphate State."

The most deadly weapon
"There are jihadists all over the world who can get these expertise and knowledge from the black Web," said Hamish de Breton Gordon, a British chemical weapons expert and NATO member. "This organization is still looking forward to possessing the deadliest weapons in the world.

The Washington Post reported that the state organization launched 76 chemical attacks in three years, and that the attacks carried out by US forces against the production facilities mustard gas in Mosul and Hit from the beginning of 2015, killing some of the organization's experts in the program, forced the organization to restore the location of production points in early 2016 and Where the organization was then retreating on several fronts under the aerial bombardment and ongoing ground attacks on the western and northern Iraq.

How to capture it
On how he was arrested, the newspaper said he was traveling from Mosul in the south on a desert road to visit his sick mother in Tal Afar, and that American forces had been watching all his movements and mobile phone for some time, and was looking to arrest him alive.

As Afri drove his car into the territory of the Khilafah state, he noticed in the rear mirror four helicopters approaching him. Two of them began to chase his car on the ground level, stirring dust and dirt, while the other two remained standing above the car.

After that, Afri heard shots on his tires and engine, and the car stopped to get out of it in a storm of dust, and suddenly a huge dog suddenly attacked him from where he could not be expected and squeezed him out of his arm.

One of the soldiers then showed him a picture of his ID card and asked him if he had his card. When he answered in the affirmative, Afri was surprised to insert his head and face into a bag and drag him into a helicopter.