In November 2015, potent radioactive material was stolen from a U.S. oilfield services company storage facility near Basra, Iraq. Reuters reports:
Iraq is searching for “highly dangerous” radioactive material stolen last year, according to an environment ministry document and seven security, environmental and provincial officials who fear it could be used as a weapon if acquired by Islamic State.
… The material is classed as a Category 2 radioactive source by the IAEA, meaning that if not managed properly it could cause permanent injury to a person in close proximity to it for minutes or hours, and could be fatal to someone exposed for a period of hours to days.
Fortunately, over this past weekend, it was found inside the case in which it was lost near a gas station in Zubair in southern Iraq. But that doesn’t mean we should become complacent that the Islamic State can buy or steal radioactive material and turn it into that simple radiological weapon known as the “dirty bomb.” It’s not a miniature nuclear weapon, but it can contaminate the area in which it is detonated with radiation, resulting in perhaps no immediate deaths, but later deaths from cancer.
A dirty bomb is mostly intended to panic a populace and cause loss of confidence in local and federal governments tasked with defending it. Ironically, if the bomb doesn’t blow up its targets, it would, however, ultimately cause the immediate deaths of Islamic State forces and civilians in territory it occupies when the U.S.-led coalition retaliates by taking off its gloves and mounting increasingly indiscriminate attacks.