ALEPPO /Syria/, November 11. /TASS/. Militants fired shells containing banned poisonous substances at apartments in Aleppo’s 1070 district killing one person and injuring dozens.
"Rapid sample analysis shows that the toxic substances in the militants’ artillery ammunition were chlorine and white phosphorus," an expert from the Russian center of radiological, chemical, and biological defense said.
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These substances are banned by the Chemical Weapons Convention on January 13, 1993. The Russian center has set up a mobile laboratory in Aleppo but the sample analysis will be taken to the scientific laboratory of the military radiological, chemical, and biological defense center in Moscow that is accredited by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
Aleppo’s 1070 district was liberated from the militants a few days ago but they still continue to shell their former positions with unguided missiles including those filled with poisonous substances. Dozens of injured, whose respiratory system was damaged, have been taken to hospitals. Doctors are taking all the necessary measures but say that to make a full recovery the injured need to undergo a long rehabilitation course.
Experts say that the militants face no difficulties in getting their hands on chemical substances.
"Chlorine is a strong poison gas used in various industries so it is easy to get hold of it," an expert at the Russian center said.
Chlorine causes burnt lungs and a painful death, it was used during the World War I. White phosphorus, widely used during the Vietnam war, is lethal to humans in a mere quantity of one-tenth of a gram.