ISIS Hijacked Chem Lab for Making Bombs

For the past year, ISIS militants have been using the well-stocked facilities of a university chemistry lab in Mosul to create explosives and teach fighters how to build bombs, U.S. and Iraqi military officials said. Hijacking the lab has allegedly increased the militant group’s ability to carry out attacks, in Iraq and otherwise, The Wall Street Journal reports. For the most part, the weapons have included peroxide-based chemical bombs and suicide-bomb vests, like the ones used in the attacks in Brussels and Paris, according to Gen. Hatem Magsosi, Iraq’s chief explosives officer. U.S. Col. Steve Warren said the lab’s current status isn’t clear, since a U.S.-led coalition has targeted the facility with airstrikes, including one such hit last month.