The UK government has flown antidote medicine to the Middle East after some Iraqis became seriously ill from eating cakes laced with the poison thallium.
Two of the victims, both children, died after eating cake delivered to a military club in Baghdad.
Others are being treated in hospital in the Jordanian capital, Amman.
It is the first time the deadly toxin has been used since the downfall of Saddam Hussein, whose regime used it to kill its opponents.
At least two of the poison victims, the secretary of the Iraqi air force club and his daughter, are critically ill in Amman.
They and half-a-dozen other patients suffering from thallium poisoning were flown from Baghdad to Amman as the necessary treatments and antidotes were not available in Iraq.
Britain responded to a request for help from the World Health Organization and medication was flown out.
Lethal poison
Thallium is a lethal poison much used by Saddam Hussein's regime against its opponents. It has not surfaced since his overthrow.
It is an ideal assassin's tool, being tasteless and easy to administer, and its effects take some time to appear.
It then causes a lingering and painful death. An antidote known as Prussian Blue can be effective if taken quickly.
An investigation is under way in Baghdad, but the affair remains shrouded in mystery. The manager of the air force club told the BBC he believed it was carried out by conspirators with a grudge against the club's administration.
In what appeared to be a goodwill gesture, a former official delivered two cakes laced with thallium.
They were taken home by two officials and eaten by their families, who all fell ill.
Poison cake kills Iraqi children
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Poison cake kills Iraqi children
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Sidewinder
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I just know the Iraqis will blame the US for INTENTIONALLY poisoning the victims, followers of the other sect (Sunni or Shiite, depending on that of the victims), or some conspiracy between their favorite scapegoats.
The shit will really hit the fan when people start overreacting to this, from the US authorities making people starve while they take the time to analyzing food for the poison, to Sunni and Shiite militiamen blaming followers of the other sect for the poisoning and engaging in ethnic cleansing to teach "the infidels" a lesson.
The shit will really hit the fan when people start overreacting to this, from the US authorities making people starve while they take the time to analyzing food for the poison, to Sunni and Shiite militiamen blaming followers of the other sect for the poisoning and engaging in ethnic cleansing to teach "the infidels" a lesson.
Please do not make Americans fight giant monsters.
Those gun nuts do not understand the meaning of "overkill," and will simply use weapon after weapon of mass destruction (WMD) until the monster is dead, or until they run out of weapons.
They have more WMD than there are monsters for us to fight. (More insanity here.)
Those gun nuts do not understand the meaning of "overkill," and will simply use weapon after weapon of mass destruction (WMD) until the monster is dead, or until they run out of weapons.
They have more WMD than there are monsters for us to fight. (More insanity here.)
I wish the cake really was a lie this time. As Sidewinder said, this'll set off a shitstorm.
"Doctors keep their scalpels and other instruments handy, for emergencies. Keep your philosophy ready too—ready to understand heaven and earth. In everything you do, even the smallest thing, remember the chain that links them. Nothing earthly succeeds by ignoring heaven, nothing heavenly by ignoring the earth." M.A.A.A