The terrorist group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, ISIL, may now be armed with chemical weapons, according to Iraqi authorities.
ISIL has taken the control of a former chemical weapons depot northwest of Baghdad, Iraq said in a letter circulated Tuesday at the United Nations.
In a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Iraq's UN Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim said ISIL seized the Muthanna facility, north of Baghdad, on June 11 and kept chemical weapons.
Alhakim said Iraqi officials spotted the looting of some equipment via the camera surveillance system before the "terrorists" disabled it.
Until the Iraqi government can regain control of the Muthanna facility and stabilize the country's security situation, Alhakim said it cannot make progress in eliminating the leftover chemical weapons stockpile.
The Sunni militant group, which now refers to itself as the Islamic State, has seized large areas of northern and western Iraq in an offensive that began last month.
ISIL, which controls parts of Syria, quickly captured a vast amount of territory straddling the border between the two countries. Last week, its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared the establishment of an Islamic state, or caliphate, in the land the extremists control.
www.aa.com.tr/en
