ISIS To Demonstrate Freedom Of Religion With Dirty Bombs

• A “highly dangerous” radioactive material went missing in Iraq and officials fear it might have been taken by members of ISIS.
• The material is Ir-192 which is used to test pipelines for flaws, but is radioactive and could be used in a “dirty bomb.”
• ISIS has been using chemical weapons on attacks in Syria and Iraq lately.

A desperate hunt for “highly dangerous” radioactive material is on in Iraq, where officials fear it could have fallen into the hands of ISIS, according to a government official in Baghdad.

The material, stored in a case the size of a laptop, disappeared from a storage facility near the southern city of Basra in November, Reuters reported. It was in the possession of Houston-based oil industry contractor Weatherford, according to a document obtained by the news agency.

The document describes “the theft of a highly dangerous radioactive source of Ir-192 with highly radioactive activity belonging to SGS from a depot belonging to Weatherford in the Rafidhia area of Basra province.”

The report comes on the heels of news that the Islamic terrorist organization has chemical weapons that it has used on the Kurds.

A spokesman for Iraq's environment ministry told Reuters he could not discuss the issue due to national security concerns. A Weatherford spokesman in Iraq also declined to comment.

The missing material is used to test flaws in pipelines in a process called industrial gamma radiography, and was owned by Istanbul-based SGS Turkey, according to the document and officials.

A senior environment ministry official based in Basra, who declined to be named as he is not authorized to speak publicly, told Reuters the device contained up to 10 grams of Ir-192 “capsules,” a radioactive isotope of iridium also used to treat cancer.

The material is classed as a Category 2 radioactive source by the International Atomic Energy Agency, and could be lethal for someone exposed to it for a period of hours. Reuters could not say how potent the material is, which would depend on its strength and age.

On Tuesday, U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper confirmed that ISIS has manufactured and deployed mustard gas in Iraq and Syria.

Clapper did not elaborate on where and when the chemical attacks occurred, though there has been mounting evidence the terror group was experimenting with chemical weapons.

“[The Syrian government] has used chemicals against the opposition on multiple occasions since Syria joined the Chemical Weapons Convention. ISIL has also used toxic chemicals in Iraq and Syria, including the blister agent Sulfur mustard,” Clapper said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Fox News previously reported on ISIS' potential experimentation with chemical weapons. Photos taken by the Kurds in northern Iraq last summer and reviewed by Fox News showed burns and blistering on skin following exposure to “odorless, colorless” agents absorbed through the clothing.

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