Terror WMD feared in police poisoning. Hundreds of Iraqi officers, some bleeding from ears, ill

Iraq PM orders probe into mass poisoning of police
Mon Oct 9, 2006 8:18am ET
By Jaafar al-Taie
NUMANIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered an investigation on Monday into a case of food poisoning that left hundreds of policemen ill.
It was not clear if the poisoning of at least 350 police was deliberate, but police sources said they arrested four cooks suspected of tampering with food at the Iraqi military base in Numaniya, about 120 km (75 miles) southeast of Baghdad.
"The (Prime Minister) has ordered the formation of a committee to investigate why members of the police force were poisoned," Maliki's office said.
Iraq's Health Ministry said on Monday an early investigation into the Numaniya poisoning showed a chemical substance was used that caused difficulty in breathing and severe pain in limbs. They said 17 people had seizures after they broke their fast on Sunday evening.
A military spokesman denied reports of fatalities.
"Only 350 to 400 people were poisoned, they were given medical treatment instantly and four were taken to a nearby hospital and everyone has returned to normal," spokesman Brigadier Qasim al-Musawi told a news conference.
However, Lieutenant-Colonel Hasan Nima at the base said the policemen, from the Interior Ministry's 4th division, became ill only minutes after the meal and insisted at least 1,350 of the 2,000 policemen at the base were hospitalized.
Other police sources at the base said seven people had died.

Last Updated: Monday, 9 October 2006, 09:33 GMT 10:33 UK
Police fall ill in central Iraq
Eighty-nine Iraqi police needed medical treatment after an outbreak of sickness and diarrhoea at a base in central Iraq, health ministry officials say.
They say infected water is the most likely cause of illness in the town of Numaniya. The US military says some 200-300 people are affected.
Iraqi ambulances and US helicopters took the men to hospitals, and samples of food and water were being tested.
Iraqi and US officials denied earlier reports that some of the men had died.
The policemen started falling ill soon after breaking their daylight Ramadan fast on Sunday, officials said.
There had been suggestions that the suddenness and severity of the sickness pointed to deliberate poisoning.
The outbreak happened in the 4th police division - a largely Shia unit.
It is currently stationed in Numaniya - about 80km (60 miles) south-east of Baghdad.

Monday October 9, 4:49 PM
Three Iraqi police die, hundreds sick after suspect meal
Hundreds of members of an Iraqi police unit fell sick and three died after eating a suspect meal, their commander said, although officials played down the idea of a deliberate poisoning.
Colonel Badr al-Ziadi said his men started falling ill immediately after breaking their daylight Ramadan fast on Sunday at the Numaniyah training base in eastern Iraq, and that 60 of them had required hospital treatment.
"We are not sure whether there was something in the water or if the food was spoiled," the commander from the 4th police division, a largely Shiite unit answering to the interior ministry, told AFP.
A spokesman for the inerior ministry, Brigadier Abdel-Karim Khalaf, played down the incident, which he said appeared to be caused by food poisoning.
This analysis was backed up by the regional governor, Latif al-Tarfah, who confirmed that three officers had died, but also said that an accidental contamination was the most likely explanation.

Oct. 9, 2006, 9:47AM
Iraqis probe food poisoning of cops
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press BAGHDAD, Iraq - Authorities arrested the head of the mess hall where at least 350 Iraqi policemen suffered food poisoning, and a military spokesman said Monday that it was likely the poisonings were intentional.
Brig. Qassim al-Moussawi, a senior spokesman for the Iraqi military, denied that anyone had died after Sunday's evening meal breaking the daily Ramadan fast.
On Sunday night, an official in the Environment Ministry, Jassim al-Atwan, said 11 policemen had died. The governor of the local province of Wasit, Hamad al-Latif, said "hundreds of soldiers were poisoned" at the police base in Numaniyah, but nobody had died.
Al-Moussawi put the number of poisoned policemen at 350 to 400, but said only four victims were admitted to hospital.
"A number of people have been arrested, including the man in charge of the mess hall," al-Moussawi said.
He said investigators were pursuing two theories _ the first that spoiled food was used in the meal, perhaps as part of a corruption scheme by the contractors or officers at the base to skim off funds for the food.
But al-Moussawi said that possibility was "less likely. The stronger possibility is that it was intentional sabotage."
Gov. al-Latif said the base's food and water are supplied by an Australian contractor working through Iraqi subcontractors. He did not identify the Australian company. The food is prepared elsewhere and brought to the base.
Al-Moussawi said the contractors, workers at the location where the food is prepared and others were under investigation, but would not say how many had been detained.
Sunni insurgents fighting the police and military have not been known to use poison as a weapon. The afflicted policemen belong to the 4th Division of the National Police, whose officers are mainly Shiites.
The division normally operates around the town of Salman Pak on the southeastern outskirts of Baghdad _ an area of intense Shiite-Sunni fighting.
The division was sent to the base in Numaniyah, 60 miles southeast of the capital, for further training.

Hundreds of Iraqi police poisoned
www.chinaview.cn 2006-10-09 10:59:08
BEIJING, Oct. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- Hundreds of Iraqi policemen fell ill from poisoning Sunday after having their evening meal at a base located in the town of Numaniyah, southern Iraq.
Officials said they were investigating whether the poisoning was intentional, according to media reports Monday.
An official with the Environment Ministry said 11 policemen had died. However, the governor of Wasit province -- where the poisoning took place -- denied any deaths, though he said some of the victims were in critical condition. There was no immediate explanation for the contradictory reports.
"Hundreds of soldiers were poisoned after taking food and water in the iftar," said Wasit Governor Hamad al-Latif, referring to the meal that breaks the sunrise-to-sunset Ramadan fast. "Investigations are under way to determine the cause."
Some of the policemen began bleeding from the ears and nose after the meal, said Jassim al-Atwan, an inspector for the environment ministry, who was serving as a liaison in the investigation between the health ministry and the base.
Samples of the food and water were being tested "to determine the substance in them" and will be sent to Baghdad for further tests, al-Latif said.
Between 600-700 policemen were affected to varying degrees, and 11 who had the heaviest amount of the food had died, al-Atwan told AP.
Some of the soldiers collapsed as soon as they stood up from the meal, others fell "one after the other" as they headed out to the yard in the base to line up in formation, al-Atwan said.
Iraqi ambulances and helicopters sent by the U.S. military rushed the policemen to hospitals in Numaniyah and the nearby city of Kut.
The afflicted policemen belonged to the 4th division of the National Police.
Al-Latif said food and water at the base are provided by an Australian contractor working through Iraqi subcontractors. He did not identify the Australian firm. Enditem
(Agencies)

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