3 chlorine bombs poison hundreds in Iraq

Insurgents in western Iraq set off three chlorine gas car bombs, US forces said on Saturday, weeks after two similar attacks sparked fears of a new campaign using unconventional weapons in Iraq.

The Friday attacks, which the US military said made hundreds ill and killed at least two, came a month into a US- Iraqi security crackdown in Baghdad aimed at stemming sectarian violence that threatens to pitch Iraq into outright civil war.

The US military said two suicide bombers driving dump trucks carrying chlorine made 350 people ill near the town of Falluja on Friday, and a smaller car bomb near Ramadi also released chlorine, though there were few casualties.