UPDATE - Autopsies show chemical weapons used in Syria: Minister

UPDATES WITH STATEMENTS FROM ADANA PUBLIC PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE

By Zekeriya Karadavut, Fatih Gokmen and Erdinc Aksoy

KIRIKKALE, Turkey (AA) - Autopsies done in Turkey of the victims of Tuesday’s deadly attack on civilians in Idlib, Syria show that chemical weapons were used, Turkey’s justice minister said on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters in the central Anatolian province of Kirikkale, Bekir Bozdag said tests were conducted on three bodies taken to Turkey from Idlib in northwestern Syria.

“These scientific tests reveal that Assad used chemical weapons,” he added, speaking of the Syrian regime leader.

Bozdag noted that the autopsies were done with representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

The public prosecutor’s office in the southern city of Adana also said in a statement that the tests were done by Turkish forensic experts along with Annette Heinzelmann of the WHO and Sahar Yazbek and Sami Berrak from the OPCW.

The victims whose bodies were autopsied were named as Asma Al Hasan (35 years old), Said Huseyin (26), and Muhammad Awad (25), all of whom were brought to Turkey on Tuesday following the deadly attack, the statement read.

Tests were done at the city’s forensic institute under the supervision of the prosecutor’s office, it added.

On Tuesday, more than 100 civilians were killed and 500 others, mostly children, were injured in an attack allegedly carried out by Assad regime warplanes, according to the Syrian interim government's health minister, Firas Jundi.

Turkish health minister Wednesday invited the WHO to send a representative to observe the autopsy process.

The attack attracted widespread international condemnation and calls for the Assad regime to be held accountable.

Last year, a UN-appointed investigation panel found that chemical weapons were mainly used by regime forces in 2014 and 2015. However, no actionable steps were taken.