 Kurds battling Islamic State militants for control of Kobani fear the extremist group may have used an unidentified chemical weapon, according to officials and one of the few doctors still working in the besieged Syrian town. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Blisters on the body of a man in Kobani which Kurds fear may have been caused by Islamic State’s use of a chemical weapon. The presence of a large former Iraqi chemical weapons production plant in territory seized by the Islamic State has compounded those fears, although officials and chemical weapons experts say the 2,500 degraded rockets filled with nerve agents that remain there are unlikely to be fit for use. Mr Kerry said he was looking into "extremely serious" allegations that IS attacked Iraqi police officers with chlorine gas last month. (Loveday Morris/TWP) 
 
 Chlorine, a common component in industry, is sold legally, but its use as a weapon violates the Chemical Weapons Convention. Intense fighting has made it impossible to get doctors the equipment they need to do definitive tests for the use of chemical weapons, but Omar said they displayed symptoms distinct from anything else he had treated in weeks of heavy battles. “After a loud explosion [on Tuesday night], we received some patients with abnormal symptoms. The four physicians who treated them said there was no question that chlorine gas was to blame. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) says use of the gas "is a CWC-defined use of chemical weapons." Iraqi officials said 11 police officers were poisoned by chlorine gas last month, when Isis fighters used it to attack the Iraqi town of Duluiya. They reported a bad smell which produced some kind of allergic reaction,” Omar said in a telephone interview that was periodically disrupted by heavy explosions. “Some of the doctors say that it might be phosphorus or poison gas of some kind, but the investigation is ongoing, we don’t know for sure.” 
 
 It is possible that Isis fighters could mistake some chemical munitions for ordinary weapons and use them without being aware of what they are handling.
– On the heels of reports that ISIS militants are learning to fly fighter jets, Iraqi officials say the group has also used chemical weapons—specifically, chlorine gas. Eleven Iraqi police officers were hospitalized on Sept. 15 after being poisoned by the stuff, according to doctors, and the officers say ISIS was to blame. An Iraqi defense official has confirmed the case, the Washington Post reports. Iraqi security forces have reported two other such attacks, though the details are hazy, the Post notes. Meanwhile, a clinic in Kobani, Syria, received patients suffering from breathing trouble and blisters following the sound of an explosion Tuesday night, the Guardian reports. "Some had red patches and blisters on their skins, others had difficulties breathing and others were vomiting, with painful throats, and others with burning eyes and noses. There was one patient ... all his body was covered in red patches and blisters," says a doctor, who believes a chemical other than chlorine was used in this case. Though chemical weapons have recently been used in Syria, these instances appear to be the first confirmed use of chlorine gas in Iraq in years, the Post reports. The US is investigating the case in Iraq, the BBC reports. All eleven of the officers were discharged from the hospital the next morning.