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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.
| 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] |
| 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. |
| Date | City | Attack | Deaths | (Alleged) perpetrator | Notes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 May 1924 |  Kirkuk | Kirkuk Massacre of 1924 | 200 [3] -300 | Assyrian Levies | Assyrian Levies massacre an estimated 200-300 people after a Turkmen shop keeper and Assyrian soldier get into an argument. | [4] [5] |
| 7 August 1933 – 11 August 1933 | Northern Kingdom of Iraq, notably at Simele | Simele massacre | Several hundred (British estimate) [6] [7] [8] 3,000–6,000 (Assyrian estimate) [9] [10] | Royal Iraqi Army (led by Bakr Sidqi, Arab and Kurdish tribes | the Iraqi army massacred 600–3,000 Assyrian Christians | [11] |
| 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 [12] ~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 | [13] |
| 12 July 1946 | Kirkuk | Gavurbağı massacre | 16-20 | Iraqi police | Turkmen protestors were massacred | [14] |
| 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 | [15] |
| 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". | [16] |
| 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 | [17] |
| 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. | [18] [19] [20] |
| 1975 | Najaf | Najaf purges[ citation needed ] | 100 | Ba'athist regime | Over 100 Shi’ite clerics killed and 1250 arrested. | [ citation needed ] |
| 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. | |
| Date | City | Attack | Deaths | (Alleged) Perpetrator | Notes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 [21] to 12,500 [21] [22] | 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 | [23] |
| 1970-2003 | 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. | [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] |
| 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. | [30] [31] [32] [33] |
| 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. | [34] |
| 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. | [35] [36] [37] |
| 16 March 1988 | Halabja, Kurdistan Region | Halabja massacre | 3,200–5,000 [38] | 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. [38] | [39] |
| 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 | [40] |
| 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. | [41] [42] [43] [44] [45] [46] |
| 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 |
Colonel General Ali Hassan Majid al-Tikriti, was an Iraqi military officer and a genocider politician under Saddam Hussein who served as Defense minister, Interior minister, and chief of the General Security. He was also the governor of Kuwait during much of the 1990–91 Gulf War.
Bakr Sidqi al-Askari was an Iraqi general of Kurdish origin, born in 1890 and assassinated on 11 August 1937, in Mosul.
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The Assyrian Democratic Movement, popularly known as Zowaa, is an Assyrian political party situated in Iraq, and one of the main Assyrian parties within the Iraqi parliament. The Assyrian Democratic Movement states its aims are to establish equal citizenship rights with the rest of the Iraqi people without discrimination on the basis of nationality, belief, religious affiliation, culture, language and other characteristics of the native Assyrians of Iraq, to acknowledge the past massacres committed against them and to ensure they are never repeated again.
Iraqi Assyrians are an ethnic and linguistic minority group, indigenous to Upper Mesopotamia. They are defined as Assyrians residing in the country of Iraq, or members of the Assyrian diaspora who are of Iraqi-Assyrian heritage. They share a common history and ethnic identity, rooted in shared linguistic, cultural and religious traditions, with Assyrians in Iran, Turkey and Syria, as well as with the Assyrian diaspora elsewhere. A significant number have emigrated to the United States, notably to the Detroit and Chicago; sizeable communities are also found in Sydney, Australia and Södertälje, Sweden.
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The Simele massacre, also known as the Assyrian affair, was committed by the Kingdom of Iraq, led by Bakr Sidqi, during a campaign systematically targeting the Assyrians in and around Simele in August 1933.
The vast majority of Christians in Iraq are indigenous Assyrians who descend from ancient Assyria, and are considered to be one of the oldest continuous Christian communities in the world. They primarily adhere to the Syriac Christian tradition and rites and speak Northeastern Neo-Aramaic dialects, although Turoyo is also present on a smaller scale. Some are also known by the name of their religious denomination as well as their ethnic identity, such as Chaldo-Assyrians, Chaldean Catholics or Syriacs. Non-Assyrian Iraqi Christians include Arab Christians and Armenians, and a very small minority of Kurdish, Shabaks and Iraqi Turkmen Christians. Regardless of religious affiliation Assyrians Christians in Iraq and surrounding countries are one genetically homogeneous people and are of different origins than other groups in the country, with a distinct history of their own harking back to ancient Assyria and Mesopotamia.
The disputed territories of northern Iraq are regions defined by article 140 of the Constitution of Iraq as being Arabised during Ba'ath Party rule in Iraq. Most of these regions are inhabited by non-Arabs, including Kurds, Assyrians, Yazidis, Turkmens/Turkomans, and Shabaks.
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The following lists events that happened during 2014 in Iraq.
The Timeline of the War in Iraq covers the War in Iraq, a war which erupted that lasted in Iraq from 2013 to 2017, during the first year of armed conflict.
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 all parts of northern Iraq. 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 and Armenians, among others—and subsequently allotting the cleared land to Arab settlers. In 1978 and 1979 alone, 600 Kurdish villages were burned down and around 200,000 Kurds were deported to other parts of Iraq.
In early 2014, the jihadist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant captured extensive territory in Western Iraq in the Anbar campaign, while counter-offensives against it were mounted in Syria. Raqqa in Syria became its headquarters. The Wall Street Journal estimated that eight million people lived under its control in the two countries.
The persecution of the Feyli Kurds was a systematic persecution of Feylis by Saddam Hussein between 1970 and 2003. The persecution campaigns led to the expulsion, flight and effective exile of the Feyli Kurds from their ancestral lands in Iraq. The persecution began when a large number of Feyli Kurds were exposed to a big campaign by the regime that began by the dissolved RCCR issuance for 666 decision, which deprived Feyli Kurds of Iraqi nationality and considered them as Iranians. The systematic executions started in Baghdad and Khanaqin in 1979 and later spread to other Iraqi and Kurdish areas.
The persecution of Yazidis has been ongoing since at least 637 CE. Yazidis are an endogamous and mostly Kurmanji-speaking minority, indigenous to Kurdistan. The Yazidi religion has historically been regarded as "devil-worship" among the followers of Abrahamic religions, primarily among Muslims and is still described as such by some, especially by Islamic extremists. Yazidis have been persecuted by surrounding Muslim state entities and groups since the medieval ages, most notably by Safavids, Ottomans, neighbouring Muslim Arab and Kurdish tribes and principalities. After the 2014 Sinjar massacre of thousands of Yazidis by ISIL, which started the ethnic, cultural, and religious genocide of the Yazidis in Iraq, Yazidis still face discrimination from the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government.
Anti-Assyrian sentiment, also known as anti-Assyrianism and Assyriophobia, is a diverse spectrum of negative feelings, dislikes, fears, aversion, racism, derision and/or prejudice towards Assyrians, Assyria, and Assyrian culture.
The total number of Assyrian victims of these events was estimated by British officials at about 600, but Assyrian sources put it at several thousand.
the MeK was alleged to have assisted the Iraqi Republican Guard in suppressing Shiite and Kurdish uprisings, although this has always been denied by the MeK
