ISIS sezes nuclear material in Iraq

A few years ago this was everybody's nightmare - that terrorists should get hold of nuclear material. This was part of the rationale post 9/11.

Now the US "downplays the threat" saying "the materials were not believed to be enriched uranium" ("Don't worry these are our people")

Sunni insurgents take over nuclear materials in northern Iraq

Iraq says “terrorist groups” have seized nuclear materials used for scientific research at a university in the country's north. Iraq's UN envoy has appealed for help to "stave off the threat of their use by terrorists in Iraq or abroad."

RT,

10 July, 2014

According to Iraq's UN ambassador, Mohamed Ali Alhakim, about 40 kilograms of uranium compounds were kept at Mosul University. He added that such materials "can be used in manufacturing weapons of mass destruction."

"Terrorist groups have seized control of nuclear material at the sites that came out of the control of the state," Alhakim told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in the July 8 letter obtained by Reuters on Wednesday.

Alhakim warned that the materials could be smuggled out of Iraq.

The stolen materials are not believed to be enriched uranium, which would make it difficult for them to be made into weapons, a government source told Reuters.

"The Republic of Iraq is notifying the international community of these dangerous developments and asking for help and the needed support to stave off the threat of their use by terrorists in Iraq or abroad," Alhakim said in a letter.

Iraq acceded to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material on Monday, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Members of the convention agree to protect nuclear facilities and material to be used for peaceful domestic use, storage, and transport.

"It also provides for expanded cooperation between and among states regarding rapid measures to locate and recover stolen or smuggled nuclear material, mitigate any radiological consequences of sabotage, and prevent and combat related offences," the IAEA stated.

The report comes just one day after Iraq told the UN that insurgents took control of a former chemical weapons facility located north of Baghdad. Alhakim said in a letter to the UN that “armed terrorist groups” took over the Muthanna complex on June 11. The facility holds the remnants of a former chemical weapons program.

In his letter to the UN chief, which was made public on Tuesday, Alhakim also pleaded for help from the international community. "The Government of Iraq requests the States Members of the United Nations to understand the current inability of Iraq, owing to the deterioration of the security situation, to fulfill its obligations to destroy chemical weapons," he said.

Read more: Iraq loses control of chemical weapons depot to ISIS militants

The rapid gains by Sunni insurgents led by the Islamic State group – formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant – have allowed them to declare the territory in Iraq and Syria under their control, to be a new Islamic state, or caliphate. The group is primarily composed of radical Sunni Muslims, and has won the support among those in Iraq disgruntled with the exclusive nature of the country's Shia-dominated central government.

The group took control of the country's second largest city of Mosul on June 10 when Sunni militants drove Iraq’s army out of the city, forcing thousands of civilians to flee. During the takeover, ISIS demolished sacred sites throughout the city, including shrines and mosques.

Iraq rebels 'seize nuclear materials'

Iraq has warned the UN that Sunni militants have seized nuclear materials used for scientific research at a university in the city of Mosul.

BBC,

10 July, 2014

In a letter seen by Reuters, Iraq's envoy to the UN said nearly 40kg (88lb) of uranium compounds were seized.

The letter appealed for international help to "stave off the threat of their use by terrorists in Iraq or abroad".

US officials reportedly played down the threat, saying the materials were not believed to be enriched uranium.

The officials added that it would be difficult for the rebels to use the materials to make weapons.

Chemicals seized

"Terrorist groups have seized control of nuclear material at the sites that came out of the control of the state," Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim said in the letter.

"These nuclear materials, despite the limited amounts mentioned, can enable terrorist groups, with the availability of the required expertise, to use it separately or in combination with other materials in its terrorist acts," he added.

Mosul, some 400km (250 miles) north-west of Baghdad, was last month seized by Isis-led (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) insurgents.

The letter comes a day after Iraqi officials confirmed that the rebels were in control of a disused chemical weapons factory.

Iraq said the Muthanna complex, north-west of the capital Baghdad, housed remnants of rockets filled with sarin and other deadly nerve agents.

The UN and US have said the munitions are degraded and the rebels will be unable to make usable chemical arms from them.

In recent weeks, Isis insurgents have seized huge swathes of north-western Iraq.

The UN has said at least 2,417 Iraqis, including 1,531 civilians, were killed in "acts of violence and terrorism" in June.

More than a million people have fled their homes as a result of the fighting.