Two more children have died of wounds suffered in a suspected jihadist chemical attack last week in Iraq, an official said on Friday, raising the death toll to three.
"We recorded the death this evening of a 10-year-old girl," said Hussein Abbas, the mayor of Taza, a town south of Kirkuk that was targeted by rockets armed with suspected mustard agent.
A six-month-old baby also died on Thursday of complications resulting from the attack, he said, while a three-year-old girl had died shortly after the March 9 attack.
Sources at the Kirkuk health directorate and a rights group also confirmed the deaths.
Abbas said the number of people treated after complaining of burns, rashes and respiratory problems has risen to 1,500.
A total of 25,000 people had left their homes in and around Taza, fearing another attack from the neighbouring village of Bashir, still controlled by the Islamic State jihadist group, he said.
Officials have charged that IS used mustard agent in the attack.
The samples are still being analysed, and definitive results from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons based in The Hague can take several months.
While the chemical agents allegedly used by IS so far have been among their least effective weapons, the psychological impact on civilians is considerable.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has vowed the attack would not go unpunished and several air raids have already been carried out on Bashir in recent days.
Tension between the Kurdish peshmerga who control Kirkuk and the Shiite militia groups also present in the area has delayed a coordinated military operation to oust IS from Bashir.
Iraqi in decapitated head post guilty of war crime
Helsinki (AFP) March 18, 2016 –
An Iraqi migrant to Finland has been found guilty of committing a war crime after he posted images of himself on Facebook with the head of an Islamic State group fighter.
Jebbar Salman Ammar, 29, was given a 16 month suspended sentence by the Pirkanmaa district court.
The court found he had desecrated the corpse of a fighter by posting three images on Facebook of himself with the head of the fighter in the Iraqi city of Tikrit.
He admitted to publishing the pictures and to having fought for IS, but he denied committing a war crime.
Prosecutor Juha-Mikko Hamalainen said his conduct was defined as "a war crime" by the International Criminal Court. He had sought a two-year prison sentence.
Jebbar Salman Ammar arrived in Finland about six months ago as part of Europe's huge migrant influx.
Finland, a country of 5.4 million people, received some 32,000 mostly Iraqi asylum seekers last year, as Europe experienced it biggest migrant crisis since World War II.
Finland, a country of 5.4 million people, received some 32,000 mostly Iraqi asylum seekers last year, as Europe experienced it biggest migrant crisis since World War II.
More than one million migrants fleeing war in Syria and upheaval across the Middle East, Asia and Africa landed in Europe since the start of 2015.
A similar case of another Iraqi man is to be heard in another Finnish court next week.
