List of massacres in Iraq

The following is a list of massacres that have occurred in the area of modern Iraq.

Pre-20th Century

• In 1258, the Siege of Baghdad (1258): estimates range from 200,000–2,000,000 civilian deaths.[1][2]

Pre-Saddam 20th Century

• May 4, 1924, Massacre of 4th May, 1924; Iraqi Levies, supported by the British, massacre an estimated 200 people after a Turkmen shop keeper and Levi soldier get into an argument.
• August 1933, the Simele massacre in Northern Iraq: the Iraqi army massacred 600–3,000 Assyrian Christians.
• June 1–2, 1941, Farhud, Baghdad; 175-780 deaths, considered "the beginning of the end of the Jewish community of Iraq".
• July 14, 1959, Kirkuk massacre of 1959 ; 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 31-79 Turkmen were killed with 130 wounded. The Iraqi government referred to the incident as a "massacre".
• December 1961, Mustafa Barzani's men entered the Assyrian village of Annune and massacred over 15 men as well as a bishop and two priests.[3]

Saddam Era

• January 27, 1969 Baghdad hangings.
• September 16, 1969, the Iraqi military headed by Liutenant Abdul Karim al-Jahayshee massacred 47 people in the village of Soriya including the priest Rev. Hanna and left 22 wounded.[4]
• 1975, Najaf purges. Over 100 Shi’ite clerics killed and 1250 arrested.
• February 5 1977, Safar uprising. 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.
• 1978 - 1979 Ba'athist Arabization campaigns in North Iraq; 2,500[5] to 12,500[5]
• 50,000 to 70,000 Shi'a, and 50,000 opposition activists, communists, Kurds and other minorities disappeared into Iraqi prisons in the 1980s[6]
• May 7, 1980, Persecution of Feyli Kurds under Saddam Hussein, Nationwide; 15,000[7][8]–25,000[9][10] Feyli Kurds killed
• July 8, 1982, Dujail Massacre, Dujail; 148 deaths.
• May 10, 1983. Saddam ordered further arrest of all Hakim family. Hundreds were killed and buried in mass graves.
• In July and August 1983, on the orders of President Saddam Hussein[11] over 8,000 men and boys of the Barzani Kurds, some as young as 13, were killed by the Ba'athist Iraq.[12][13][14]
• 1984, Abu Ghraib prison massacre, Baghdad Governorate; 4,000 executed in purge[15]
• 1986–1989, Anfal genocide, Nationwide: 50,000[16]-182,000[17] Kurds and other Iraqi minorities killed during Iran–Iraq War.
• March 16, 1988, Halabja poison gas attack, Halabja: 5,000+ deaths; Iraqi government used chemical weapons on Kurdish town; condemned as an act of genocide (The aforementioned Anfal genocide).
• 13 February 1991, Amiriyah shelter bombing, 408 civilians killed by US airstrike.
• March 1 – April 1991 5, 1991 uprisings in Iraq, Nationwide: 25,000–180,000 killed (mostly civilians).[18][19][20]

2000s

• August 29, 2003, Imam Ali mosque bombing, 95 civilians including senior Shia cleric killed by Sunni extremists.
• May 19, 2004, Mukaradeeb wedding party massacre; 42 Iraqi civilians were killed by U.S. soldiers during a wedding.
• 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.[21]
• 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 Balad massacre on by U.S. Forces, four women and five children, one aged five months.[22]
• March 2006, Ishaqi incident US troops rounded up and deliberately shot 11 civilians.[23]
• Between May 7 and 8, 2006, 51 bodies were found in Baghdad, all handcuffed, blindfolded and shot in the head and abdomen.[24]
• July 9, 2006, Hay al Jihad massacre on by Shia militia, 40 killed.
• March 27, 2007 2007 Tal Afar bombings and massacre, Tal Afar 152 Shiites were bombed; then Shiite-affiliated policemen after a bombing, 70 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.
• July 12, 2007, Baghdad airstrike 12 to 18 Iraqi civilians killed by two US helicopters.
• 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.[25]
• August 14, 2007 2007 Qahtaniya bombings on by Sunni insurgents, 796 killed.
• September 16, 2007, Nisour Square massacre, Baghdad: Blackwater Baghdad shootings by Private military company, 17 killed. 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.

2010s

• 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 hand cuffed 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.[26][27]
• October 31, 2010, 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.
• September 1, 2013, 2013 Camp Ashraf massacre, Camp Ashraf; 52 died; Members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps helped plan and direct the assault on the camp and then two of Iran's Iraqi-based proxies, Kata'ib Hezbollah and Asaib Ahl al-Haq carried out the attack.
• June 12–15, 2014 Camp Speicher massacre |Tikrit; the Islamic State with the help the Sunni local tribes killed at least 1,700 unarmed Iraqi Air Force cadets. They were separated by sect: Sunnis were allowed to repent for their military service, while Shiites were lined up for firing squads. The soldiers were separated into small groups, executed and buried in mass graves.
• June 10 2014 – August 8 2015, Mass Executions in ISIS Occupied Mosul where over 6,539 people have been killed.
• August 2014 - Sinjar massacre, about 5,000 Yazidis massacred by ISIS.[28]
• January 28, 2015 – Barwana massacre, 70 unarmed boys and men by Shia militas(allegedly).
• March 17, 2017 – an airstrike by American-led bombing of Western Mosul that killed over 278+ civilians was referred to a massacre.

References

1. Andre Wink, Al-Hind: The Making of the Indo-Islamic World, Vol.2, (Brill, 2002), 13.  – via Questia (subscription required)
2. The different aspects of Islamic culture: Science and technology in Islam, Vol.4, Ed. A. Y. Al-Hassan, (Dergham sarl, 2001), 655.
3. Donabed, Sargon George. (2016). Reforging a forgotten history : Iraq and the Assyrians in the twentieth century. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-1-4744-1212-4. OCLC 1044658876.
4. Donabed, Sargon George. (2016). Reforging a forgotten history : Iraq and the Assyrians in the twentieth century. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-1-4744-1212-4. OCLC 1044658876.
5. Routine calculations do not count as original research, provided there is consensus among editors that the result of the calculation is obvious, correct, and a meaningful reflection of the sources. Basic arithmetic, such as adding numbers, converting units, or calculating a person's age are some examples of routine calculations. See also Category:Conversion templates.
   https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.TAB14.1C.GIF row 1313 and 1314
   1,000,000 and 10,000 to 2,000,000 and 100,000 Kurds were displaced and killed respectively between 1963 and 1987; 250,000 of them in 1977 and 1978. If deaths are proportional to the displacement then 2,500 to 12,500 Kurds would have died during this period depending on the scale of overall displacement and deaths used.
6. Greitens, Sheena Chestnut (16 August 2016). Dictators and their Secret Police: Coercive Institutions and State Violence. p. 289. ISBN 9781316712566.
7. "Scars that won't heal: Iraq recognises Fayli Kurd persecution as 'genocide'". ekurd.net. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
8. Marsh, Robin. "International Recognition of the Kurdish Genocide - Concerning the Faili Kurds". www.uk.upf.org. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
9. Jaffar Al-Faylee, Zaki (2010). Tareekh Al-Kurd Al-Faylyoon. Beirut. pp. 485, 499–501.
10. Al-Hakeem, Dr. Sahib (2003). Untold stories of more than 4000 women raped killed and tortured in Iraq, the country of mass graves. pp. 489–492.
11. "Saddam Hussein confirms the execution of the Barzanis". YouTube.
12. "FROM BLUEPRINT TO GENOCIDE?" (PDF). drmohammedihsan.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-01-09.
13. "Iraqi tribunal rules Barzani killings in 1983 were genocide". ekurd.net.
14. "Various waves of Kurdish genocide". uk.gov.krd. Archived from the original on 2017-09-01.
15. Chauhan, Sharad S. (2003). War on Iraq. APH Publishing. p. 65. ISBN 9788176484787.
16. GENOCIDE IN IRAQ Human Rights Watch, 1993
17. The Crimes of Saddam Hussein – 1988 The Anfal Campaign PBS Frontline
18. "2 Mass Graves in Iraq Unearthed". Los Angeles Times. June 5, 2006.
19. "'Chemical Ali' on trial for brutal crushing of Shia uprising". The Guardian. August 22, 2007.
20. "ENDLESS TORMENT, The 1991 Uprising in Iraq And Its Aftermath". Hrw.org. Retrieved 2009-09-25.
21. "Iraqi Insurgents Massacre 49 Iraq Recruits". PBS NewsHour. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
22. "WikiLeaks releases unredacted U.S. cables". Alaska Dispatch News. Archived from the original on 31 March 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
23. Zielbauer, Paul Von (2008-08-27). "U.S. officers killed blindfolded Iraqis, statements say". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
24. "30 Iraqis Killed in Karbala, Baghdad". Retrieved 6 April 2015.
25. Bassem Mroue (6 April 2015). "New Village Massacre Reported in Iraq". Newsvine. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
26. Archived April 7, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
27. "Dozens dead in Baghdad shooting – Middle East". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 2014-08-07.
28. Spencer, Richard (14 October 2014). "Isil carried out massacres and mass sexual enslavement of Yazidis, UN confirms". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 27 October 2015.