Chlorine traders in a tizzy as security forces tackle rising blasts

Baghdad: Fallujah, the Sunni majority city west of Baghdad, has been witness to bombings where Iraqi insurgents used trucks rigged with explosives and chlorine gas to cause large number of casualties.

The use of chlorine gas as a weapon has raised fears among Iraqis in tense security areas, especially in Baghdad.

The Baghdad security plan commanders have taken strict measures to control and monitor trucks loaded with fuel in Baghdad's neighbourhood, fearing that they might be loaded with chlorine to target civilians in residential areas.

Hamdi Ali, owner of a workshop for manufacturing cleaning materials in Zyoot district in Baghdad, told Gulf News: "Since armed groups started to use chlorine gas, my workshop was inspected three times by American and Iraqi forces, basically because I store a tolerable amount of this material to use in my work. Inspection operations are inconvenient but justified since the situation is dangerous," Ali added.

Due to this atmosphere of fear faced by Baghdad inhabitants, the Iraqi intelligence services took certain measures to avoid any further chemical attacks. These measures include: ordering the concerned bodies to check all stores that use chlorine in Baghdad and compel chlorine traders to submit a list on the imported and distributed quantities of this material.

Critical factor

According to Tahir Alwan, an employee in the mineral waters company, the seriousness of the matter is twofold. He told Gulf News: "The critical factor is that the security forces do not want us to store large quantities of chlorine, fearing terrorist elements might steal it. That will adversely effect the company's production, especially with regard to determining chorine quantity for production. The second is that private workshops and factory owners were arrested and subjected to investigation because they were using and dealing with chorine."

Security measures to control the chlorine transfer was not limited to private workshops and factories. The Iraqi Cabinet has issued official letters to all ministries, especially the Ministry of Health and Industry to take necessary measures to control stores that peddle chlorine. This move came after certain rumours were circulating about terrorists seizing chlorine from official Iraqi institutions.

Speaking to Gulf News, Ramsey Al Naimi, an Iraqi citizen who lives in Jadirya district in Baghdad, said: "When I notice a tank loaded with fuel, I say to myself this might be loaded with toxic chlorine gas and possibly will explode and cause suffocation in the area, so I try to stay away and pray for my safety."

It seems that chlorine bombs have more of a psychological effect than a physical effect, yet Dr Sabiha Mohammad, working in the Iraq Health Ministry, told Gulf News: "Chlorine gas explosion has a far-reaching effect. It can spread to 100-200 metres beyond the blast zone depending on the amount used in the bombing. The explosion causes chlorine combustion which leads to suffocation and immediate toxemia due to the decrease in oxygen."

Chlorine blasts prompted the Iraqi government to talk about possible chemical attacks carried out by gunmen in main markets and residential areas to destroy the new security plan. Iraqi media considered urging people to cooperate with the security forces in detecting terrorists' dens "exaggerated expectations".