List of massacres in Iraq

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

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	^[1]^[2]

Pre-Saddam 20th Century

• May 4, 1924, Massacre of 4th May, 1924; Assyrian Levies massacre an estimated 200 people after a Turkmen shop keeper and Assyrian 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 and 79 Turkmen were killed with 130 wounded. The Iraqi government referred to the incident as a "massacre".

Saddam Era

• January 27, 1969 Baghdad hangings.
• September 16, 1969, 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.^[3][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 were targeted genocide^[11] via exportation^[12] and forced relocations.^[13]
• 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^[14] over 8,000 men and boys of the Barzani Kurds, some as young as 13, were killed by the Ba'athist Iraq.^[15][16][17]
• 1984, Abu Ghraib prison massacre, Baghdad Governorate; 4,000 executed in purge^[18]
• 1986–1989, Anfal genocide, Nationwide: 50,000^[19]-182,000^[20] 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 5, 1991 Iraqi uprisings, Nationwide: 25,000–180,000 killed (mostly civilians).^[21][22][23]

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.^[24]
• 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.^[25]
• March 2006, US troops killed 4 Iraq prisoners.^[26]
• Between May 7 and 8, 2006, 51 bodies were found in Baghdad, all handcuffed, blindfolded and shot in the head and abdomen.^[27]
• 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.^[28]
• 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.^[29][30]
• 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.
• 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.^[31]
• 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.^[32]

Date	City	Attack	Deaths	(Alleged) Perpetrator	Source
19 May 2004	Mukaradeeb	Mukaradeeb wedding party massacre	42	United States	^[33]
March 2012	Baghdad	Emo killings	6 and 70	Terrorists	^[34]
1 September 2013	Camp Ashraf	2013 Camp Ashraf massacre	52	IRGC	^[35]
10 June 2014	Mosul	Badush prison massacre	670	Islamic State of Iraq	^[36]
12 June 2014	Mosul	Camp Speicher massacre	1700	Islamic State of Iraq	^[37]
17 March 2017	Mosul	2017 Mosul airstrike	278	United States	^[38]
21 January 2022	Diyala	2022 Diyala massacre	11	Islamic State of Iraq	^[39]

References

1. Andre Wink, Al-Hind: The Making of the Indo-Islamic World, Vol. 2, (Brill, 2002), 13.
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. HMML Hill Museum & Manuscript Library
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. Cambridge University Press. 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. . www.uk.upf.org. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
9. Jaffar Al-Faylee, Zaki (2010). Tareekh Al-Kurd Al-Faylyoon. 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. "33-Year Post Faili Kurds Genocide". ekurd.net. Retrieved 2021-07-25.
12. "The Faili Kurds of Iraq: Thirty Years Without Nationality - Iraq". ReliefWeb. 2 April 2010. Retrieved 2021-07-25.
13. "Scars that won't heal: Iraq recognises Fayli Kurd persecution as 'genocide'". ekurd.net. Retrieved 2021-07-25.
14. "Saddam Hussein confirms the execution of the Barzanis". YouTube.
15. (PDF). drmohammedihsan.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-01-09.
16. "Iraqi tribunal rules Barzani killings in 1983 were genocide". ekurd.net.
17. . uk.gov.krd. Archived from the original on 2017-09-01.
18. Chauhan, Sharad S. (2003). War on Iraq. APH Publishing. p. 65. ISBN 9788176484787.
19. GENOCIDE IN IRAQ Human Rights Watch, 1993
20. The Crimes of Saddam Hussein – 1988 The Anfal Campaign PBS Frontline
21. "2 Mass Graves in Iraq Unearthed". Los Angeles Times. June 5, 2006.
22. "'Chemical Ali' on trial for brutal crushing of Shia uprising". The Guardian. August 22, 2007.
23. "ENDLESS TORMENT, The 1991 Uprising in Iraq And Its Aftermath". Hrw.org. Retrieved 2009-09-25.
24. "Iraqi Insurgents Massacre 49 Iraq Recruits". PBS NewsHour. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
25. . Alaska Dispatch News. Archived from the original on 31 March 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
26. 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.
27. "30 Iraqis Killed in Karbala, Baghdad". The Washington Post. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
28. Bassem Mroue (6 April 2015). "New Village Massacre Reported in Iraq". Newsvine. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
29. [1] April 7, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
30. "Dozens dead in Baghdad shooting – Middle East". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 2014-08-07.
31. Spencer, Richard (14 October 2014). "Isil carried out massacres and mass sexual enslavement of Yazidis, UN confirms". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
32. Silva, Cristina (1 September 2016). "ISIS Kills Children With Chainsaws: Islamic State Brutal Killings On The Rise Amid Airstrike Campaign". International Business Times.
33. McCartyh, Rory (25 May 2004). "Wedding party video casts doubt on American version of attack that killed 42". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
34. "Iraq's Emo killings: A horror story out of control?". BBC News. 21 March 2012.
35. Williams, Carol J. (19 September 2013). "Envoys urge U.N. probe of massacre at Iranian exile camp in Iraq". Los Angeles Times. from the original on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
36. "Iraq: ISIS Executed Hundreds of Prison Inmates". Human Rights Watch. 30 October 2014. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
37. "Survivors from the Speicher massacre: We were 4000 unarmed soldiers fell into the hands of ISIS". Buratha News Agency (in Arabic). 7 September 2014. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
38. Lizzie Dearden (28 March 2017). "US-led coalition Mosul air strike killed up to 240 Iraqi civilians 'because Isis snipers used roof". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01.
39. "Iraq: Armed attack in Al-Azim District, Diyala Province, early Jan. 21". Crisis24. January 21, 2022. from the original on January 21, 2022. Retrieved January 22, 2022.