Halabja

Halabja (Kurdish: Helebce, هەڵەبجە) is a city in Iraqi Kurdistan, in Sulaymaniyah Governorate. It is  northeast of Baghdad.

Poison gas attack

The city is known for a chemical attack carried out in the final phase of the Iran-Iraq War. The Peshmerga (Kurdistani military wing), supported by Iran, took control of the city. On 16 March 1988, after two days of ordinary artillery attacks, Iraqi Air Force planes dropped gas canisters on the town. The town and surrounding district were attacked with bombs, artillery fire and chemical weapons, the last of which proved most damaging. At least 5,000 people died as an immediate result of the chemical attack. It is estimated that a further 7,000 people were injured or suffered long-term illness. Most of the victims of the attack were Kurdish civilians.

The attack is believed to have included the nerve agents Tabun, Sarin and VX, as well as mustard gas. Another possibility, according to the former senior CIA analyst Stephen C. Pelletiere, is that Iraq did not have the nerve agent to use in the attack but did have mustard gas which had been used in the Iran–Iraq War. It is occasionally suggested that cyanide was also included among these chemical weapons, though this assertion has been doubted as cyanide is a natural byproduct of impure Tabun. The attack on Halabja took place amid the Anfal campaign, in which Saddam Hussein powerfully suppressed Kurdish revolts during the Iran-Iraq War.

Before the war ended, Iraqi forces moved in on the ground and completely destroyed the town. In March 2010, the Iraqi High Criminal Court recognized the Halabja massacre as genocide. This decision was welcomed by the Kurdistan Regional Government.AK News, 1 March 2010 

References

Category:Cities in Iraq
Category:Iraqi Kurdistan