The Syrian army says an air strike by the US-led coalition hit poison gas supplies belonging to Islamic State, releasing a toxic substance that killed "hundreds", but the coalition denies carrying out raids in the area.
A statement by the army, flashed on Thursday by Syrian state TV, said the incident on Wednesday in the eastern Deir al-Zor province proved that Islamic State and al-Qaeda-linked militants "possess chemical weapons".
The report could not immediately be independently verified.
US Air Force Colonel John Dorrian, a spokesman for the coalition, said it had carried out no air strikes in that area at that time.
"The Syrian claim is incorrect and likely intentional misinformation," he said in an email to Reuters.
The United States launched cruise missiles at a Syrian air base last week, in response to a deadly poison gas attack in the west of the country that Washington blamed on President Bashar al-Assad's government.
Syria and its ally Russia deny Damascus carried out any such chemical attack. Moscow has said the poison gas in that incident belonged to rebels.
The US strike on the Syrian air base was the first time Washington has deliberately and directly targeted the Syrian government. It is separately waging an air campaign against Islamic State in eastern Syria.
An air strike carried out by US-led anti-Islamic State coalition forces accidentally killed 18 fighters belonging to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Pentagon said separately on Thursday.
The "misdirected strike" was carried out on Tuesday south of Tabqah. The strike had been requested by "partnered forces" in the fight against Islamic State in Syria, who had identified the target location as an Islamic State fighting position.
The SDF is a US-allied coalition of Syrian Kurds and Arabs.
A Pentagon news release did not further identify the forces that requested the air strike, which occurred as part of the coalition's air support of an offensive to free al-Raqqa, Islamic State's de facto capital in Syria.
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