Kurdish forces fighting Islamic State (IS) jihadists in northern Iraq have reported being attacked with chemical weapons, the German defence ministry told AFP on Thursday.

 

"We have indications that there was an attack with chemical weapons" against the peshmerga fighters that left many suffering from "respiratory irritation," a ministry spokesman told AFP.

 

A senior official from the peshmerga told the same news agency that the attack happened two days ago and wounded several dozen fighters.

 

"Last Tuesday afternoon, peshmerga forces in the Makhmur area 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of the city of Arbil were attacked with Katyusha rockets filled with chlorine," the official said on condition of anonymity.

 

The defence ministry in Germany, which is providing arms and weapons training to the Kurdish forces, said that "American and Iraqi specialists from Baghdad are on their way to find out what happened".

 

A ministry spokesman had said earlier "there was a chemical weapons attack" near Arbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, AFP recalled.

 

A second ministry spokesman later stressed that German forces were not present during the attack, but that "we have indications that there was an attack with chemical weapons".

 

Germany has been supporting the Kurdish peshmerga fighters since September to back their push against IS jihadists, and currently has about 90 personnel on the ground.

 

"German soldiers were not affected or in danger" during the reported attack, the spokesman told AFP. "The protection of our soldiers in northern Iraq is already at the highest level."

 

IS has previously been accused of using chlorine against Kurdish forces in Iraq, AFP said.

(With inputs from AFP)