"Today, elements of the ISIS (ISIL) group have shelled some of the security checkpoints and residential areas in Ramadi with chlorine gas-imbued bombs," the Iraqi News Gazette quoted a member of Anbar’s Provincial Council, Farhan Mohammed, as saying on Wednesday.

Chlorine, an industrial chemical, can suffocate its victims to death when weaponized and is banned in accordance to the 1997 chemical weapons convention.

Mohammad went on to say this is not the first time ISIL has used chlorine in its attacks in the western Iraqi city as a similar attack was reported two months ago.

Iraqi soldiers, police units, Kurdish forces, Shia fighters and Sunni tribesmen have been engaged in joint operations to drive the terrorists out of the areas they have seized.