Iraqi girl dies after IS chemical attack

Kirkuk: A three-year-old Iraqi girl wounded in a chemical attack by the Islamic State group died in hospital Friday, medical sources and officials said.

"She died of respiratory complications and kidney failure... caused by the mustard agent used by Daesh (IS) in Taza," said Masrour Aswad, of the Iraqi Commission for Human Rights.

Fatima Samir was among the dozens of people hospitalised after a chemical attack carried out Wednesday on the town of Taza, just south of the city of Kirkuk.

Burhan Abdallah, the head of Kirkuk health directorate, said four people in serious condition were transferred to Baghdad.

Aswad said the rockets fired on Taza from the nearby IS-held town of Bashir contained mustard agent. Other security officials said chlorine may have been used.

Intelligence officials have collected samples that are still being analysed.

IS has used both chemical agents in the past, a tactic which has caused few casualties and whose impact so far has been more psychological than military.

Abu Ridha al-Najjar, a leader in the Turkmen branch of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary umbrella group that includes Iraq's mostly Shiite militias, said the attack had sown fear.

"International NGOs should come to the region to see the effects of such shelling and its consequences on the civilian population, including after the attack," he said.

The Pentagon announced on Thursday that the US-led coalition against IS had carried out air strikes on the jihadist group's chemical weapons sites.

It said the targets were identified following the capture in Iraq last month of a man presented as the group's top chemical expert.