# List of massacres in Iraq

The following is a list of massacres that have occurred in the area of modern Iraq, and does not include collateral damage, especially from raids and airstrikes, which were due to mistaken identity or unfortunately getting caught in the line of fire.

## Pre-20th century

| Date | Location | Attack | Deaths | (Alleged) Perpetrator | Notes | Source |
| 29 January – 10 February 1258 | Baghdad | Siege of Baghdad (1258) | 200,000 – 2,000,000 | Ilkhanate Mongol Empire Kingdom of Georgia Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia | estimates range from 200,000 to 2,000,000 civilian deaths | |
| 21 April 1802 | Karbala | Wahhabi sack of Karbala | 2,000-5,000 | Emirate of Diriyah | About 12,000 Wahhabi Sunnis under the command of Abdul-Aziz bin Muhammad, the second ruler of the First Saudi State attack and sack Karbala, kill between 2,000 and 5,000 inhabitants and plunder the tomb of Husayn ibn Ali, grandson of Muhammad and son of Ali ibn Abi Talib. | |

## Pre-Saddam 20th Century

| Date | Location | Attack | Deaths | (Alleged) perpetrator | Notes |
| 4 May 1924 | Kirkuk | Kirkuk Massacre of 1924 | 200-300 | Assyrian Levies | Assyrian Levies massacre an estimated 200-300 people after a Turkmen shop keeper and Assyrian soldier get into an argument. |
| 7 August 1933 – 11 August 1933 | Northern Kingdom of Iraq, notably at Simele | Simele massacre | Several hundred (British estimate) 3,000–6,000 (Assyrian estimate) | Royal Iraqi Army (led by Bakr Sidqi, Arab and Kurdish tribes | the Iraqi army massacred 600–3,000 Assyrian Christians |
| 1935–1936 | Kingdom of Iraq | 1935–1936 Iraqi Shia revolts | 200 | Kingdom of Iraq, Iraqi Shia tribesmen, Ikha Party | Series of Shia tribal uprisings in the mid-Euphrates region against the Sunni dominated authority of the Kingdom of Iraq. In each revolt, the response of the Iraqi government was to use military force to crush the rebellions with little mercy |
| 1–2 June 1941 | Baghdad | Farhud | ~180 to 1,000+ Jews killed ~300–400 pogromists killed during suppression | Rashid Ali, Yunis al-Sabawi, al-Futuwa youths, and Iraqi mobs | Considered "The Beginning of The End of The Jewish Community of Iraq |
| 12 July 1946 | Kirkuk | Gavurbağı massacre | 16-20 | Iraqi police | Turkmen protestors were massacred |
| January 1948 | Baghdad | Al-Wathbah uprising | 300-400 | Iraqi Police | It is estimated that 300 – 400 demonstrators were killed |
| April 1950 – June 1951 | Baghdad | 1950–1951 Baghdad bombings | 3–4 | Iraqi Zionist agents, Israeli Mossad agents, Iraqi Istiqlal Party agents | Series of bombings of Jewish targets in Baghdad |
| 14 July 1959 | Kirkuk | Kirkuk massacre of 1959 | 71-79 | Iraqi Communist Party, Fourth Brigade | Kurdish members of the Iraqi Communist Party target Turkmens leaving an estimated 20 dead. This was followed by Kurdish soldiers from the Fourth Brigade targeting Turkmen residential areas with mortars, causing the destruction of 120 homes. Between 31 and 79 Turkmen were killed with 130 wounded. The Iraqi government referred to the incident as a "massacre". |
| 27 January 1969 | Baghdad | 1969 Baghdad hangings | 14 | Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party | Iraqi authorities hanged 14 Iraqis for allegedly spying for Israel during a public execution in Baghdad; nine were Jewish, three were Muslim and two were Christian |
| 16 September 1969 | Surya | Surya massacre | 47 | Ba'athist regime | The Iraqi military headed by Lieutenant Abdul Karim al-Jahayshee massacred 47 people in the Assyrian village of Soriya (Ṣawriyā) including the Chaldean priest Ḥannā Yaʻqūb Qāshā and left 22 wounded. |
| 1975 | Najaf | Najaf purges | 100 | Ba'athist regime | Over 100 Shi’ite clerics killed and 1250 arrested. |
| 4-9 February 1977 | Najaf and Karbala | 1977 Shia uprising in Iraq | unknown | Ba'athist regime | Despite brutally enforced ban on public religiousness, thousands of people defy it and head to Karbala during the Arba'een Pilgrimage. Hundreds were killed and thousands arrested by the regime. |

## Saddam Era

| Date | Location | Attack | Deaths | (Alleged) Perpetrator | Notes |
| 22 July 1979 | Khuld hall | 1979 Ba'ath Party Purge | 21 | Ba'athist regime organized by Saddam Hussein | Internal purge of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party after the new president Saddam Hussein assumed power and alleged a Syrian back coup d'etat. 68 people were arrested, of which 21 were executed by firing squad. |
| 1968–2003 | Ba'athist Iraq | Ba'athist Arabization campaigns in northern Iraq | 2,500 to 12,500 | Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party | Between 1968 and 2003, the ruling Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party of the Iraqi Republic perpetrated multiple campaigns of demographic engineering against the country's non-Arabs. While Arabs constitute the majority of Iraq's population as a whole, they are not the majority in parts of northern Iraq, and a minority in Iraqi Kurdistan. In an attempt to Arabize the north, the Iraqi government pursued a policy of ethnic cleansing, killing and forcefully displacing a large number of Iraqi minorities—predominantly Kurds, but also Turkmen, Yazidis, Assyrians, Shabaks, Mandaeans, and Armenians, among others—and subsequently allotting the cleared land to Arab settlers |
| 1980s | Ba'athist Iraq | Persecution of Shi'a muslims and political dissidents under Saddam Hussein | 50,000-70,000 Shi'a and 50,000 dissidents disappeared. Full death toll unknown. | Saddam Hussein | 50,000 to 70,000 Shi'a, and 50,000 opposition activists, communists, Kurds and other minorities disappeared into Iraqi prisons in the 1980s |
| 1970-2003 | Nationwide | Persecution of Feyli Kurds under Saddam Hussein | 15,000-25,000 killed | Saddam Hussein, Tariq Aziz | May 7, 1980, Persecution of Feyli Kurds under Saddam Hussein, Nationwide; 15,000–25,000 Feyli Kurds were targeted in a genocide via exportation and forced relocations. |
| 8 July 1982 | Dujail | Dujail massacre | 148 | Iraqi Ba'ath Party | Judicial reprisal targeting Shia Muslims following a failed assassination attempt on Saddam Hussein by the Islamic Dawa Party. Saddam would eventually be executed for crimes against humanity in relation to the massacre. |
| 10 May 1983 | Specific location unknown | Massacre of the Hakim family | Hundreds | Saddam Hussein | Saddam ordered further arrest of all Hakim family. Hundreds were killed and buried in mass graves. |
| July–August 1983 | Kurdistan Region | Repression of Barzani Kurds under Ba'ath regime | 8000 | Saddam Hussein | In July and August 1983, on the orders of President Saddam Hussein, over 8,000 men and boys of the Barzani Kurds, some as young as 13, were killed by the Ba'athist Iraq. |
| 16 March 1984 | Abu Ghraib prison | Abu Ghraib purge | 4000 | Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region | A mass grave was discovered at the Abu Ghraib prison, containing the bodies of thousands following a purge. Estimated 4000 dead. |
| 23 February - 6 September 1988 | Kurdistan Region | Anfal Campaign | 50,000-182,000 | Saddam Hussein, Ali Hassan al-Majid, Hussein Rashid | Counter insurgency operation during the Iran Iraq War targeting primarily Kurds, as well as other minority groups that had allegedly collaborated with the Iranian Army. During the campaign, the Iraqi government made extensive use of chemical weapons which resulted in thousands of casualties. Use of enforced disappearances, mass deportation and detention camps were also present. The operation is recognized as a genocide by Human Rights Watch. |
| 16 March 1988 | Halabja, Kurdistan Region | Halabja massacre | 3,200–5,000 | Iraqi Republic | Iraqi government used chemical weapons on Kurdish town, At least 3,200–5,000 people died as an immediate result of the chemical attack and it is estimated that a further 7,000-10,000 people were injured or suffered long-term illness. |
| 13 February 1991 | Al-A'amiriya, Baghdad | Amiriyah shelter bombing | 408+ | United States Air Force | Two laser-guided "smart bombs" destroy an underground bunker in Baghdad, killing 408+ civilians of Iraqis. US military intelligence claims it was a military facility while Iraqi officials identify it as a bomb shelter |
| 1 March - 5 April 1991 | Nationwide | 1991 Iraqi uprisings | 25,000–180,000 killed (Predominantly civilians) | Iraqi Republic, MEK (Allegedly, denied) | In response to multiple insurrections led by a variety of Kurdish, Leftist and Shia Islamist groups, the Iraqi government violently repressed the rebellion. Chemical weapons and nerve agents such as Mustard Gas, Sarin and Phosgene were allegedly used, though this has been disputed. |
| 28 March 1991 | Altun Kupri, Kirkuk Governorate | 1991 Altun Kupri massacre | 1,000-3,500 | Iraqi Army on the order of Saddam Hussein, Iraqi Ba'ath Party, Arab nationalists | The massacre targeted Turkmens, in particular males, both children and adults alike, and was organized by security forces affiliated with Saddam Hussein's army |

## After 2003

* August 1, 2004, 2004 Iraq churches attacks, Baghdad and Mosul; 12 died, 71 injured.
* October 24, 2004 Massacre of New Iraqi Army recruits by Sunni insurgents, 49 killed.
* November 19, 2005 Haditha killings, Haditha 24 Iraqi civilians were killed by United States Marines.
* March 12, 2006 Mahmudiyah killings on by U.S. Army soldiers, 4 killed.
* March 15, 2006, the Ishaqi incident, where four women and five children, one aged five months were allegedly killed by U.S. Forces. This was denied by the Americans, who said a building collapsed during a firefight, killing four people—a suspect, two women and a child.
* March 2006, US troops killed 4 Iraq prisoners.
* Between May 7 and 8, 2006, 51 bodies were found in Baghdad, all handcuffed, blindfolded and shot in the head and abdomen.
* July 9, 2006, Hay al Jihad massacre on by Shia militia, 40 killed.
* April 23, 2007, 2007 Mosul massacre, Mosul; 23 died; the murders were considered to be a reprisal for the honor killing of a 17-year-old Yazidi girl.
* On April 17, 2007, 51 bodies of Iraqi civilians and military personnel, who were killed in the previous two years, were found in Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad.
* June 29, 2007, Al Ahamir Massacre, Al Ahamir, 10-14 Iraqi civilians were killed by Al Qaeda.
* On June 30, 2007, 35 to 40 bodies were recovered from a recently dug mass grave in the town of Ferris, south of Fallujah, most likely victims of sectarian violence.
* July 16, 2007, massacre of Shiite villagers in a village in Diyala province on by Sunni insurgents, 29 killed.
* September 16, 2007, Nisour Square massacre, Baghdad: Blackwater Baghdad shootings by a private military company, 17 killed. The private military company, Blackwater Security Consulting, shot at Iraqi civilians killing 17 and injuring 20 in Nisour Square, Baghdad while escorting a US embassy convoy.
* Following the conclusion of the 2007 Diyala province military campaign dozens of mass graves were found. It is unclear who was responsible although Al-Qaeda is suspected.
* April 4, 2010, insurgents dressed as US and Iraqi soldiers killed 25 people including 5 women in a village south of Baghdad. They were linked to the Awakening movement. They were handcuffed and shot in the head or chest. Seven were found alive in handcuffs. Major General Qassim Atta spokesman for the Iraqi security forces' Baghdad operations said Al-Qaeda in Iraq was behind this.
* October 31, 2010, Baghdad church attack, Baghdad; 58 died; Islamic State of Iraq attacked a Catholic church.
* April 8, 2011, Camp Ashraf raid, Camp Ashraf; 34 unarmed members of the People's Mujahedin of Iran were killed by Iraqi security forces. 300+ injured.
* March 2012, Emo killings by terrorists in Baghdad.
* 2013 Camp Ashraf massacre that killed 52 people by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on September 1, 2013.
* June 10, 2014, Badush prison massacre that killed 670 by the Islamic State of Iraq.
* June 10, 2014 – August 8, 2015, Mass executions in Islamic State-occupied Mosul where over 6,539 people have been killed.
* June 12, 2014, Camp Speicher massacre, where 1,700 people were murdered in Mosul by the Islamic State of Iraq.
* August 2014 – Sinjar massacre, about 5,000 Yazidis massacred by ISIS.
* January 28, 2015 – Barwana massacre, 70 unarmed boys and men by Shia militas (allegedly).
* September 1, 2016 – Islamic State reportedly executed nine Mosul youths with a chainsaw for being part of an opposing group.
* January 21, 2022, 2022 Diyala massacre that killed 11 people by the Islamic State of Iraq.