Halabja trial

Front Page Years Themes Witness. About This Site Text Only. Up to 20 aircraft, said to include Iraqi Migs and Mirages, were seen overhead at around local time in Halabja. According to experts, the chemicals dropped by the planes may have included mustard gas, the nerve agents sarin, tabun and VX and possibly cyanide. The attack on Halabja, which is about miles km north-east of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, is the latest in the Iran-Iraq war and follows its occupation by Iranian forces.

Iraq was said to be keen to avenge the fall of Halabja, which is seen as an important centre for Kurdish resistance in their struggle for autonomy.

The assault came after two days of conventional mortars, artillery and rockets from nearby mountains. According to pro-Iranian Kurdish commanders in Halabja, there were up to 14 aircraft sorties, with seven to eight planes in each group. The planes were believed to have concentrated their attacks on the city and all the roads leading out of it.

Eyewitnesses have told of clouds of smoke billowing upward "white, black and then yellow"', rising as a column about feet 46 metres in the air. Most of the wounded, who were taken to hospital in the Iranian capital Tehran, were suffering from mustard gas exposure. Those who escaped death have developed respiratory or visual problems from the cocktail of chemicals dropped on the city. The injured survivors seen by reporters showed the classic symptoms of mustard gas poisoning - ugly skin lesions and breathing difficulties.

Some residents survived by covering their faces with damp cloths and taking to the mountains around Halabja. They stayed underground until March 15, the day Iraqi forces withdrew from the town. Others who had already left Halabja also came home that day as calmness retuned.

On the 16th, at 11am, fighter jets were heard raiding the town. Everything then grew quiet, and the sounds of bombs disappeared. Meanwhile, Ahmed Muhammad Qadir, a neighbor, informed the people inside the shelter that the town had been bombarded with chemical weapons. The news brought the people out of the shelter.

Fatima and her family decided to run. Not 70 meters from home they saw unconscious and wounded people. The scene forced Fatima and her family to go back home. Her husband told her to go up to the top floor. A white liquid was leaking from the mouth of her son. I am burning! She fainted. When she opened her eyes she found herself in an Iranian hospital in Kimanshah with no children and no husband.

In the coming days she was moved to Tehran where she remained for 25 days, along with many others. Fatima lost her husband their five children.

On this Christmas Day please take a moment of your time to remember the victims of this horrendous attack. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email.