Iraqi envoy: No evidence of Islamic State chemical attack

UNITED NATIONS – Iraq's U.N. ambassador says there is no evidence that the Islamic State extremist group used chemical weapons in an attack in Mosul, the country's second-largest city.

Iraq's U.N. Ambassador Mohamed Alhakim told reporters ahead of a Security Council meeting Friday on a reported attack that he spoke to officials in Baghdad and informed U.N. disarmament chief Kim Won-soo.

The alleged attack occurred last week in eastern Mosul, an area declared fully liberated by Iraqi forces in January.

But Alhakim said "there is really no evidence" that the Islamic State group "has used this chemical weapon."

If chemical weapons are used, he said, there is evidence of people injured and material left on the ground but "we don't have anything from the operation in Mosul that tells us we have that."