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List of massacres in Iraq

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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 City 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 Ottoman Empire 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 City Attack Deaths (Alleged) perpetrator Notes Source
4 May 1924 Iraq 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 Iraq Northern Kingdom of Iraq, notably at Simele Simele massacre Several hundred (British estimate)
3,000–6,000 (Assyrian estimate)
Iraq Royal Iraqi Army (led by Bakr Sidqi, Arab and Kurdish tribes the Iraqi army massacred 600–3,000 Assyrian Christians
1935–1936 Iraq 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 Iraq 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 Kingdom of Iraq Kirkuk Gavurbağı massacre 16-20 Iraqi police Turkmen protestors were massacred
January 1948 Iraq Baghdad Al-Wathbah uprising 300-400 Iraq Iraqi Police It is estimated that 300 – 400 demonstrators were killed
April 1950 – June 1951 Iraq 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 Iraq 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 Iraq 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 Iraq 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 Iraq Najaf Najaf purges 100 Ba'athist regime Over 100 Shi’ite clerics killed and 1250 arrested.
4-9 February 1977 Iraq 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 City Attack Deaths (Alleged) Perpetrator Notes Source
22 July 1979 Iraq 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 Iraq 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 Iraq 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 Iraq Nationwide Persecution of Feyli Kurds under Saddam Hussein 15,000-25,000 disappeared Saddam Hussein 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 Iraq 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 Iraq 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 Iraq 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 Iraq 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 Iraq 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 Iraq 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.
March 1 - April 5, 1991 Iraq 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.

After 2003

References

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    https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.TAB14.1C.GIF row 1313 and 1314
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Terrorist incidents in Iraq in the 21st century
Incidents by year
Lists of bombings
Related articles
Lists of massacres
By past country
or territory
By country
or territory
By war
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