The Islamic State (IS) militants are stuffing live scorpions into canisters and launching them on Iraqi civilians to spread panic.
According to the Mirror, calling it an act of madness, Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, ex-head of chemical and biological weapons for the Army and Nato, said that the IS had improvised devices to launch them.
He added that the IS militants were promoting the fact that they are doing it, which in turn is creating panic.
Thousands of scorpions are flung out once the canister breaks after being launched a couple of miles.
The bioweapon, inspired by age-old Iraqi tactics that were used against the Roman invasion, is being used to target civilian areas in the north of the country.