"Iraq Tells UN 'Terrorist Groups' Seized Former Chemical Weapons Depot"

"Iraq's government has lost control of a former chemical weapons facility to 'armed terrorist groups' and is unable to fulfill its international obligations to destroy toxins kept there, the country's U.N. envoy told the United Nations.

In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, made public on Tuesday, Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim said the Muthanna facility north of Baghdad was seized on June 11. He said remnants of a former chemical weapons program are kept in two bunkers there.

'The project management spotted at dawn on Thursday, 12 June 2014, through the camera surveillance system, the looting of some of the project equipment and appliances, before the terrorists disabled the surveillance system,' Alhakim wrote in the letter dated June 30."

Michelle Nichols and Missy Ryan report for Reuters July 8, 2014.

SEE ALSO:

"Iraq Confirms Rebels Seized Muthanna Chemical Arms Site" (BBC)

"Isis Seizes Former Chemical Weapons Plant in Iraq" (Guardian)

"Iraq: Islamic State Militants Seize Chemical Weapons Site" (Haaretz)