HASSAN SHAM U2 CAMP, Iraq (AP) – A mass food poisoning at a camp for the displaced near the northern city of Mosul has killed at least two people and sickened over 700, Iraq’s health minister said on Tuesday.
The incident quickly became new fodder for a diplomatic dispute between several Arab nations and Qatar, with an Iraqi lawmaker who visited the camp overnight and Saudi state television accusing a charity from Qatar of providing the tainted food. The claims could not be independently confirmed and Qatari officials did not immediately answer calls for comment.
Adila Hamoud, the Iraqi health minister, told The Associated Press in Baghdad that 752 people became ill after a meal the previous evening at the Hassan Sham U2 camp, located about 20 kilometers (13 miles) east of Mosul.
The food was meant for an iftar, a meal with which Muslims break their dawn-to-dusk fasting during the holy month of Ramadan. Hamoud said a woman and a girl died while at least 300 people remain in critical condition.
She would not speculate whether the poisoning might have been intentional.