US armed ISIL launches gas attack in Iraq's Anbar

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The ISIL Takfiri militants operating in Iraq have reportedly carried out a chemical attack on a residential area in the western part of the violence-stricken country.

According to local media reports, the commander of the rapid intervention forces in Iraq's Anbar province, Shaaban Obaidi, said Sunday that the ISIL terrorists "fired seven shells filled with chlorine on the residential district" there.

He added that no casualties have been reported as a result of the gas attack, as residents had left the buildings and some shells did not go off.

Last week, Iraqi officials said the ISIL terror group used bombs with chlorine-filled cylinders during clashes in the town of Dhuluiya, located about 96 kilometers (60 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad, on September 15.

They noted that some 40 Iraqi soldiers and Shia fighters were made ill and showed symptoms of chlorine poisoning such as coughing and vomiting. They were all treated in hospital and quickly recovered.

The use of chlorine gas has raised grave concerns about future militant attacks in Iraq. There are also fears that Iraq's old chemical weapons stores could have fallen into ISIL's hands.

In September, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) stated that chlorine gas was being used in parts of Syria that are under the control of ISIL.

Recent photos of Kurdish fighters killed in battle against the ISIL Takfiri militants in the Syrian border town of Kobani, known in Arabic as Ain al-Arab, apparently suggest that the terrorists have used chemical weapons against the Kurds.

The ISIL terrorists currently control large swathes of territory across Syria and Iraq. They have committed terrible atrocities in both countries, including mass executions and beheading of local residents as well as foreign nationals.