400 Iraqi Kurds Poisoned by Bread
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DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — About 400 Iraqi Kurdish refugees have been treated in Diyarbakir hospitals after eating poisoned bread, hospital officials said Friday.
Physicians said a possible cause was the use of poor yeast to make bread for some of the 11,500 Iraqi Kurds given temporary shelter in the southeastern city.
There are more than 30,000 Iraqi Kurdish refugees in Turkey.
A similar poisoning outbreak was reported among Iraqi Kurds in southeastern Turkey last June.
Turkey said it was caused by tainted food. But British scientists who analyzed blood samples of the victims said they believe that many Kurds had been deliberately poisoned with a toxic nerve agent, possibly by Iraqi agents.
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