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Iraqi News, Mar 1, 2018

Mohamed Mostafa

People in the Iraqi city of Mosul are still filled with apprehension from chemicals left over from Islamic State militants’ bygone presence in the country’s second largest city, a news agency reports, saying that security forces do little to work out a solution.

Though Iraqi forces recaptured Mosul, Islamic State’s birthplace in Iraq, in July, the extremist group’s reserve of chemical weapons stocked inside civilian property remains a source of concern for civilians, according to Anadolu Agency.

The agency quoted locals saying that Iraqi security forces would only mark contaminated houses with red tapes and writing warning phrases. People quoted by the agency say Iraqi teams handling the issue seem to be not properly prepared for the challenge.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Lit. Yaareb al-Mosawi, a member of the Iraqi army’s engineering division working on war waste removal, confirmed the chemical danger and the forces’ unpreparedness.

He said the forces lack the instrument needed for the removal of such materials, as well as the personnel trained for that purpose. He revealed that teams content with the removal of unexploded IEDs and rockets.

According to the officer, there are 130 locations with dangerous chemical materials only in the Old City, the medieval district from where IS declared the establishment of its self-styled “caliphate” in 2014.

Iraqi and coalition forces had occasionally reported the use of chemical weapons by IS militants during the three-year war.

Destruction, explosive waste and chemical leftovers have made thousands of displaced civilians reluctant to return to the city.

United Nations experts said last month it would take a decade to remove millions of explosive ordnance from areas recaptured from IS.