Iraq Radioactive Material That Rang Terrorism Alarm Is Found

Radioactive material stolen from an American warehouse in Iraq that set off terrorism alarms has been found, officials said on Sunday.

It still isn't known how the material, which some believed could have been used to make weapons like a "dirty bomb" if found by the Islamic State, turned up in the southern town of Zubair, nine miles southwest of Basra, the country's environmental spokesman Ameer Ali told NBC News.

"A passer-by found the radioactive device dumped in Zubair and immediately informed security forces which went with a special prevention radiation team and retrieved the device," said Jabbar al-Saidi, a security official in Basra. "After initial checking I can confirm the device is intact 100 percent and there is absolutely no concern of radiation."

The material was in an industrial radiography device about the size of a laptop, a tool that uses the radioactive isotope Iridium-192 to beam gamma radiation, said CNN. The device was being used to test oil pipelines for structural problems.

"We don't have any concern about radiation since the case has not been damaged at all," Jassim al-Falahi, Iraq's deputy health minister, told CNN.

Iridium-192 is also used in medicine as a source of radiation to kill cancer cells, but commercial radioactive isotopes could possibly be used in build a dirty bomb, said The Guardian.

The material was stolen in November from a storage facility near Basra owned by the U.S. oilfield services company Weatherford, reported Reuters.

"After failing to take it out of the town, the perpetrators decided to dump it," an unidentified security official told Reuters. "I assure you it is only a matter of time before we arrest those who stole the radioactive device."

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