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Insurgents attempt 8th chlorine gas attack

Iraqi security forces shot two suicide truck bombers carrying highly toxic chlorine before they could reach a government complex in Fallujah on Wednesday, but the explosives detonated, wounding 15 U.S. and Iraqi forces.

As of today, officials had not released a breakdown of how many Iraqi and U.S. forces were wounded.

Iraqi soldiers and police were being treated for breathing troubles, nausea, skin irritation and vomiting — symptoms of chlorine gas inhalation.

The chlorine gas attack was the eighth since Jan. 28, when a suicide bomber driving a dump truck filled with explosives and a chlorine tank struck a quick-reaction force and Iraqi police in Ramadi, killing 16 people.

Senior U.S. commanders in Iraq are not taking the threat of chlorine attacks lightly, but it is still up to unit commanders to decide whether soldiers will carry their chemical protective masks with them, according to a senior military official in Baghdad who asked to remain anonymous.

“It depends on where they are on the battlefield and what the local commander deems necessary,” the military official said.

At low levels, exposure to chlorine gas causes difficulty in breathing and irritation of the skin and eyes. At extremely high levels, it dissolves in the lungs to form hydrochloric acid, burning lung tissue and essentially drowning a person.

The Associated Press contributed to this report