Hundreds of Iraqi police poisoned
Oh, it was intentional. 11 dead so far.
Update: The government story is shifting. 3 dead according to the Interior Ministry, none dead according to the Defense Ministry. If this was an intentional poisoning, the Iraqi gov't and US military have an incentive to play it down.
Later: Okay, let's add "Other police sources at the base said seven people had died," and the Maliki government announced th arrest of the 4 cooks. (Reuters.) Early Health Ministry tests showed, "a chemical substance was used that caused difficulty in breathing and severe pain in limbs."
Hundreds of Iraqi policemen fell sick from poisoning Sunday at a base in southern Iraq after the evening meal breaking their daily Ramadan fast, and officials said they were investigating whether the poisoning was intentional.....
Some of the policemen began bleeding from the ears and nose after the meal......
Between 600-700 policemen were affected to varying degrees, and 11 who had the heaviest amount of the food had died, al-Atwan told The Associated Press.
Some of the soldiers collapsed as soon as they stood up from the meal, others fell "one after the other" as they headed out to the yard in the base to line up in formation, al-Atwan said.
Update: The government story is shifting. 3 dead according to the Interior Ministry, none dead according to the Defense Ministry. If this was an intentional poisoning, the Iraqi gov't and US military have an incentive to play it down.
Later: Okay, let's add "Other police sources at the base said seven people had died," and the Maliki government announced th arrest of the 4 cooks. (Reuters.) Early Health Ministry tests showed, "a chemical substance was used that caused difficulty in breathing and severe pain in limbs."
posted by mikevotes at
8:54 PM
2 Comments:
I think it was intentional too but who did it?
By
Anonymous, at 9:26 PM
I don't know.
Pure guessing here. I would assume they were infiltrated by Shia militia which would make the likely candidate a Sunni(or maybe a rival shia faction?)
Don't know anything at this point, could've been done in the supplies or by a cook.
It said the food was handled by an Australian company which subcontracted to an Iraqi company. I would bet the owner and his family turn up dead shortly.
This is going to be a tough story because neither the Iraqi gov't or US military want a story like this out there which will inflame the situation, so we will probably see some conflicting explanations.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 9:31 PM
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