Second Anfal
The Second Phase of the Anfal Genocide targeted the Qaradagh region from 22 March to 1 April 1988. According to Ba‘ath regime documents and official reports, the First and Second Anfal Operations received the widest media coverage of that era, portrayed as major “victories.” The Ba‘ath newspaper Al-Thawra (issue no. 6522, dated 3 April 1988) published an article entitled “In the Second Anfal Operation, the Qaradagh Area Was Cleansed of Traitors.” Another report in the same issue declared that “The people of Erbil, Duhok, and Sulaymaniyah send greetings to the heroes of the Anfal Operation.”And these advertisements in the newspapers were made by Saddam’s collaborators (the Jash).
Only three days after the end of the First Anfal, Iraqi forces launched a new large-scale offensive under the command of Lieutenant General Iyad Khalil Zaki (commander of the Fifth Army Corps) and Lieutenant General Kamil Sajit (commander of the Second Army Corps), under the direct supervision of General Adnan Khairallah (Minister of Defense) and Ali Hassan al-Majid, head of the Northern Bureau of the Ba‘ath Party. Other senior officers involved included General Nizar Abdul-Karim al-Khazraji, Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations; General Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti, Director of Operations; Colonel Zahir Yunis Ali, commander of the 50th Division; and Colonel Saad Shams al-Din, commander of the National Defense brigades in Sulaymaniyah and Qaradagh sectors.
This was a massive military campaign, larger in scope than the First Anfal, aimed at the mountain chain of Qopi Qaradagh. By this time, Iraq had already carried out two major genocidal campaigns — against the Fayli Kurds and the Barzanis — as well as countless other crimes: depopulating Kurdish villages, forced displacement, declaring “prohibited zones,” and systematic terrorization of civilians.
Iraqi intelligence gathered detailed information about Peshmerga bases in Qaradagh, claiming that they provided logistical assistance to Iranian forces. The area had previously been depopulated in 1987, when inhabitants were forcibly relocated to the Nasr and Zarayan complexes, leaving only army units and local collaborators (Jash) — until Peshmerga later regained control.
In February 1988, eight Iraqi aircraft carried out a chemical attack on the villages of Sertakay and Balajwar. Witnesses who observed the event described it as follows:
“The planes dropped many bombs — perhaps eight or nine. They made a sharp whistling sound as they fell, and after the explosions, a faint gas spread out. Those who came into contact with it developed blisters on their skin; animals that grazed on contaminated grass collapsed and died instantly. Fortunately, no civilians died, because people had already taken shelter.”
According to regime intelligence reports, Iraqi security services alleged that the “treacherous group (Hask)” had received nearly 1,500 gas canisters from the Iranian army. These exaggerated claims were later used as pretexts to justify the chemical and military escalation during the Anfal campaign in Qaradagh.
The Chemical Bombardment of the Village of Sewsênan
The village of Sewsênan, located in the eastern foothills of Qaradagh, was one of the worst-hit targets of the chemical attacks carried out on 22 March 1988, during the Second Phase of the Anfal Genocide.
According to eyewitnesses, an intense bombardment began shortly after evening prayers on 22–23 March, around sunset. One survivor described the scene:
“I was standing outside my house facing the village when I saw waves of fire falling on Sewsênan. The bombardment came from the direction of Darbandikhan; the shells were fired in clusters over the village. Out of roughly 350 households — about 1,500 inhabitants — more than 80 people were killed.”
On the following day (23 March), the nearby village of Dukan was also subjected to chemical bombardment. The regime continued its heavy and systematic bombardments throughout the Qaradagh region, followed by ground assaults in the afternoon of 23 March, when the Iraqi army advanced and occupied the area.
Those who tried to escape were divided into two groups. One group fled northward, toward Sulaymaniyah, via rugged mountain paths; they eventually reached safety, though many lost their homes and possessions to looting. The other group fled southward toward Germian, where they were later captured, detained, and disappeared during the Anfal operations.
A report by the Political Bureau of the Kurdistan Democratic Party listed the names of 66 victims, aged between 1 and 59 years, all from Qaradagh villages, killed in the chemical attacks of 28–29 March 1988 — many of them women, children, and the elderly.
Army forces surrounded the Qaradagh region. Villagers were divided; some fled toward Mount Glazerd and then to Sulaymaniyah, while others, deceived by army officers who told them they would be taken to “safe camps,” boarded military trucks and buses. Instead, they were transferred to the Toubzawa military camp near Kirkuk, where they were executed or buried in mass graves. The rest of the population, exhausted and ill, moved toward Sangaw and Germian, many dying along the way.
On 1 April 1988, the General Command of the Iraqi Armed Forces issued Communiqué No. 3109, declaring the “complete cleansing of the Qaradagh region from traitors” and the destruction of Peshmerga bases in Taki, Balagjar, Miuli, Bani Murad, Chircha Qala, Homar Qala, Balakan, Daband Faqira, Qaradagh, Oqla, Jafaran, Boxin, Sewsênan, Zarda, Kalosh, Berkê, Klaw Jom‘a, Bakhshê, Darband Basara, Sargarma, Qopi Qaradagh, and Achdakh.
Ba‘ath regime documents later revealed that, on 15 April 1988, a secret order (No. 169) from the Second Infantry Division “Khalid Bin Walid” commanded by Colonel Adnan Naji, requested logistical support — including eight helicopters and twenty transport vehicles — to transfer the 39th Brigade from Piramagrun to Qaradagh, with air defense coverage during the operation scheduled for 20 April 1988.
A follow-up correspondence from the Ministry of Defense (Military Security Directorate, Document No. 48 dated 21 April 1988) confirmed this transfer and requested the establishment of a special security committee to oversee the operation, to be completed within 20 hours. These documents demonstrate the systematic coordination and planning behind the Anfal Genocide operations in the Qaradagh region.
According to another document issued by the First Army Corps under the command of Sultan Hashim, sent to the General Command of the Armed Forces as a secret and urgent letter No. 142 dated 20 April 1988, the following was reported:
“During the cleansing operations in the Qaradagh area, 2,500 detainees and ‘hirelings’ (men and women) were arrested, along with the seizure of a quantity of weapons and ammunition in the Qopi Qaradagh area, as follows:
- 10 DShK / 12.7 mm heavy machine guns with 200 (units of ammunition).
- 200 Kalashnikov rifles.
- 1,000 ‘romana’ (ammunition units).
These detainees, as well as the weapons and ammunition, have been placed in the custody of the Corps headquarters. We await your instructions in this regard. End.”
In response, the General Command of the Armed Forces sent letter No. 2/م خ dated 23 April 1988 to the command of the First Army Corps, stating:
“With reference to your secret and urgent letter No. 142 dated 20/4/1988 regarding the 2,500 detainees and hirelings, they shall be distributed as follows:
• Men are to be transferred to the Command of the Fourth Army Corps.
• Women are to be transferred to the Command of the Third Army Corps.
• Children are to be transferred to the Zerpyosh military camp in Tikrit.They shall be transported together with our representative, using special vehicles. End.”
These documents are among the clearest pieces of evidence showing how the Ba‘ath regime systematically arrested, separated, and forcibly disappeared Kurdish civilians — men, women, and children — during the Anfal Genocide.
Sources
- Official documents of the collapsed Ba‘ath regime.
- MEW, The Genocide in Iraq and the Anfal Campaign against the Kurds.
- Documents of the Political Bureau of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
- Field investigations and research (follow-up and interviews).
- Magazines and newspapers of the Ba‘ath era.
* Note on Sultan Hashim:
Lieutenant General Sultan Hashim Ahmad Muhammad al-Tai served in the Fourth Division as commander of the 5th Infantry Brigade, then as commander of the Fourth Division, later as commander of the Fifth Army Corps, and finally as commander of the First Army Corps during the Iran–Iraq war (1980–1988). He was one of the principal military leaders in charge of the Anfal operations.
Remark on terminology:
The terms used by the Ba‘ath regime in its documents — such as “bakrigraw (hireling/mercenary), têkder (saboteur), “criminal,” and many other degrading labels — were applied to any Kurd (except the collaborators known as “Jash”), whether Peshmerga or civilian. In this text, these terms are quoted exactly as they appear in the original documents, to preserve the historical record and reveal the dehumanizing language used by the regime as part of its genocidal policy.
Leave feedback about this