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2nd gas attack launched on Iraq troops in Mosul

A member of the Iraqi forces wore a gas mask on Sunday during operations to recapture western Mosul from Islamic State fighters. AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images

BAGHDAD — The spokesman for the Joint Operation Command in Iraq said Sunday that the Islamic State attacked government troops in western Mosul with a type of gas, the second such attack in as many days.

Brigadier General Yahya Rasool said six soldiers suffered breathing problems from the attack on Sunday and were treated in a field clinic. An investigation was launched to determine what type of gas was used.

The attack occurred a day after an Iraqi military officer said ISIS militants launched a gas attack in the al-Abar neighborhood in western Mosul.

Two army officers say masks and other equipment have been distributed to forces in case of future gas attacks. They spoke anonymously as they were not authorized to speak to media.

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An officer with the antiterrorism forces said ISIS fired a rocket loaded with chlorine.

US-backed Iraqi forces are battling ISIS militants in the more densely populated western half of Mosul. Iraqi officials say more than half of western Mosul has been retaken. The extremists were driven out of the eastern half of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, in January.