The United States has withheld information concerning the chemical weapons it found in Iraq in the years following the Iraqi invasion, a report published by The New York Times Tuesday claimed.

A total of 5,000 chemical munitions were discovered since 2003 when the U.S. invaded Iraq, said the report.

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It also revealed that seventeen American servicemen and seven Iraqi police officers were injured after exposure to chemical agents on six separate occasions between 2004 and 2011. Interviewees indicated a slightly higher number of injuries, but said the information is highly classified.

The information was neither revealed to the public nor within the military. Those interviewed said they were ordered not to talk about what they had found.

According to The New York Times, the secrecy ultimately denied the servicemen adequate medical care and proper military recognition of their injuries.

A retired Army major, who was present during the largest discovery of chemical weapons in 2006, said he was told to keep silent or give deceptive accounts regarding what happened.

Another former Army sergeant said he was refused hospitalization after incurring mustard burns in 2007.

At a press briefing on Wednesday in Washington, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby addressed the allegations, saying he cannot speak for the decisions made by unit commanders or medical personnel for events that happened years ago.

He confirmed, however, that at least 20 servicemen were exposed to chemical weapons since mid-2000s to 2011, CNN reported.

Speaking for Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Kirby said the secretary is concerned about allegations that American troops were not given adequate care and administrative support. The Defense Secretary has already ordered a review of the military's health care system, Kirby told reporters.

The New York Times report suggested reasons why the U.S. government resorted to secrecy.

For one, the U.S. declared war on Iraq vowing to destroy its chemical weapons production program, but the UN failed to find evidence of the program in the immediate aftermath of the invasion.

It was only later when U.S. troops discovered old cache of nerve gas and mustard munitions. All of which were remnants of weapons produced in the 1980s and were found clustered around the Muthanna State Establishment, Iraq's main production facility that was destroyed during the Gulf War in 1991.

These findings did not fit U.S. intelligence claim that Saddam Hussein had active weapons of mass destruction program.

Also, the report suggested the findings were an embarrassment to the U.S. government. In five of the six occasions when soldiers were injured, the weapons were found to have been designed in the U.S. and manufactured in facilities the United States built.

The New York Times' report is particularly worrisome since the Islamic State militants now hold the Muthanna complex.

The group overran and looted the chemical productions facility in June where 2,500 chemical rockets were still buried in the ground, a letter from the Iraqi ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim to the UN reported.

Despite an earlier claim by U.S. officials that the weapons were expired and pose no risk, evidence suggest that the Islamic State group used the weapons during its first wave of attack against Kurdish fighters in Kobani in July. A Middle East watchdog said at least three Kurdish militiamen were killed by chemical weapons.  

TagsISIS chemical weapons, weapons of mass destruction