Officials are desperately scrambling to locate “highly dangerous” radioactive material that went missing after a brazen theft from an Iraqi oil field last year, and it has raised fears among security experts that the material has fallen into the hands of ISIS.
That means ISIS may now have the capability to explode a so-called radioactive “dirty bomb.”
According to Reuters, 10 grams of Ir-192 was stolen from a storage facility that is operated by the U.S. oil company Weatherford near the Iraqi city of Basra. The theft has been confirmed by numerous senior officials in the country, according to their report.
The International Atomic Energy Agency reports that this amount of Ir-192 is a Category 2 radioactive material, and exposure “could cause permanent injury to a person who handled it or who was otherwise in contact with it for a short time (minutes to hours). It could possibly be fatal to be close to this amount of unshielded radioactive material for a period of hours to days.” and a capsule of this substance is radioactive up to 100 meters if dispersed.
“We are afraid the radioactive element will fall into the hands of Daesh,” a senior security official told Reuters, using an alternative acronym for ISIS.
“They could simply attach it to explosives to make a dirty bomb,” Reuters reported the official said.
The terror group has a history of using weapons of mass destruction in the past. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has confirmed that ISIS used mustard gas on Kurdish forces last August.
Just Friday of last week, a Kurdish military officer and a medical official say Islamic State militants fired mortar shells believed to have been filled with a chemical weapon, possibly chlorine gas, at Kurdish troops close to the Iraqi town of Sinjar.
Dr. Afrasiab Mussa Yones, director of Dohuk hospital, told The Associated Press in an article Thursday that nine Kurdish soldiers were admitted with symptoms including vomiting, nausea, shortness of breath and itching, symptoms that suggest chlorine was used.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
So why was this material at a oil field??….It makes little sense……Granted all of this is only a matter of time!
Why was this kept at a storage facility??????????????????????????
It was probably stored there after Saddam, so that people could claim George W. Bush lied about the WMDs. Probably a leftist conspiracy. (Who does that sound like?)
If there is another attack on American soil, I say it’s open season on muzzlims!!
I DO THINK THAT A DIRTY BOMB WILL PUSH REAL AMERICANS, OVER THE WALL OF SANITY, AND TAKE MATTERS INTO THEIR OWN HANDS, WE CANT COUNT ON OUR GOVMT TO MAKE WISE AND PRUDENT DECISIONS, IF YOU WANT IT DONE RIGHT, GUESS YOU WILL HAVE TO DO IT YOURSELF!
GHANDI.
I heard that Obama has hatched a plan. On his next trip to Middle East he has agreed w ISIS to bring bomb back in his underwear so he can carry it to Congress and detonate it. Now that’s a legacy.
He already used what is in his underwear to ____ congress.
Oh! Where is the “like” button when you need it?
You get my reply of the month award
Omg, on Obama’s watch
Scary if upgrade to EMP type bomb,
QUESTION: Why would someone be storing this highly radioactive material in plain sight without anyone taking the proper precautions and total all out security? Does this make any sense?
That was the first thing I thought or….how could they do something so stupid at times…like now..
Are we being fed some story about ISIS and bombs ?
Just to get every one exited ?
Thought there was NO Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq…..
There were no WMD’s in Iraq before 2012 when the lie was told and the big lie was pointed at nuclear bombs being there. This could be a false flag story or if true, one of the Iraqi’s sold it to ISIS. Oh wait, that could not happen because none of those fine people would do such a thing – it must have been one of our politicians that sold it to ISIS.
I’m not sure the Middle East is stable enough to be a storage location for radioactive materials. Maybe someone should consider this is an insider theft rather than an ISIS action. I’m sure such a potent material would have a black market value. This may be a way for someone to make a few extra bucks.
The headline claims a bomb was stolen. The story sounds as if somebody walked off with some pills for an x-ray camera used to NDT pipe welds. The half life date is probaly past anyway if the poor experiences I’ve had with QA work there are anything to go by. Most of the sources I get are so weak it wouldn’t make your watch dial glow. I asume this headline was meant to scare people
More along the line of “If it bleeds, it leads”. I’m just afraid that eventually, nobody’s going to pay attention when these people cry “wolf!”
Kind of what I thought when the amount was listed.
“Why?” Is right . Are there no common sense brain cells left in those with responsible jobs? I only takes a tiny bit on common sense
The CIA has Nuclear care packages to be used in the US. ISIS is a MI-6, CIA construct so please put the pieces together. We are the last of the mohicans based in freedom in the world. now its our turn to be destroyed. Welcome United States to that which we tried to divert, but because people are want to sleep you will soon wake up and smell the Roses.
It’s amazing how these deadly materials are always left in vulnerable ways for the bad guys to jut scoop them up. Once again I’d like to thank President Barry for degrading ISIS. What a pathetic joke on the sheeple of the USA.