Halabja: The 1988 Chemical Attack and a Kurdish City Reborn
- Hojîn Rostam
- 3 hours ago
- 5 min read
Introduction
Halabja (Kurdish: Helebce) is a Kurdish city in the east of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, near the Iranian border. It is known around the world for one of the worst atrocities of the late twentieth century: the chemical weapons attack of 16 March 1988, when Saddam Hussein’s forces gassed the town during the Anfal campaign, killing thousands of civilians. In 2025 Halabja was formally recognised as Iraq’s newest governorate.
This is the latest entry in our geographic series profiling the cities and towns of the region — where they are, who controls them, who lives in them, and why they matter to the Kurdish story.
Quick Facts
Common Name: Halabja
Kurdish Name: Helebce
Country: Iraq — Kurdistan Region; capital of Halabja Governorate
Population: Around 100,000–120,000 in the city and district
People: Overwhelmingly Kurdish
Setting: Near the Iranian border, about 250 km north-east of Baghdad
Status: Iraq’s 19th governorate, recognised in 2025
Known For: The 1988 chemical attack during the Anfal campaign
Contents
Location and Geography
Halabja lies in the far east of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, only about 15 kilometres from the border with Iran and roughly 250 kilometres north-east of Baghdad. It sits in mountainous country in the Zagros, near the Hawraman highlands and not far from the Darbandikhan reservoir. For most of its modern history it was a district of Sulaymaniyah Governorate; its border location placed it on the front line during the Iran–Iraq War of the 1980s, which set the stage for the tragedy that made its name known worldwide.
People and Population
Halabja is an overwhelmingly Kurdish city. Before 1988 it had a population of roughly 60,000 and was a notable cultural and religious centre in the region. Estimates of the present population of the city and surrounding district range from around 100,000 to 120,000. Many residents and their descendants still live with the long-term health consequences of the chemical attack — cancers, respiratory illness, birth defects and psychological trauma — which continue to shape life in the city decades later.
History
Halabja was long a centre of Kurdish learning and religious life in the Sharazur region. In the twentieth century it became caught up in the wider Kurdish struggle in Iraq and in the violence of the Ba’athist state. In the late 1980s, as the Iran–Iraq War ground on, the Iraqi regime launched the Anfal campaign — a series of operations against Kurdish communities widely characterised as genocide, in which villages were razed, civilians displaced, and chemical weapons used. Halabja, captured by Iranian forces and Kurdish peshmerga in March 1988, became the most infamous target of that campaign.
The 1988 Chemical Attack
On 16 March 1988, Iraqi aircraft bombed Halabja with a mixture of chemical agents — mustard gas and nerve agents such as sarin and tabun — after conventional shelling. The attack, ordered under the command of Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as “Chemical Ali,” killed an estimated 3,200 to 5,000 people, most of them women and children, within hours, and injured and sickened many thousands more. It was one of the largest chemical attacks ever carried out against a civilian population. The images of Halabja’s dead in the streets shocked the world, and the attack is widely recognised as part of the genocidal Anfal campaign; al-Majid was later convicted and executed for these and related crimes.
Halabja Today
Halabja was rebuilt after 1988 and is administered within the Kurdistan Regional Government. In April 2025 the Iraqi parliament formally recognised Halabja as the country’s 19th governorate and the fourth in the Kurdistan Region, after years of campaigning by local people — a status the KRG had already granted in 2014. The city is home to the Halabja Martyrs Monument and Peace Museum, which commemorate the victims, and 16 March is marked each year as a day of remembrance. Residents continue to press for recognition, reparations and medical support, and relations with the authorities have at times been tense, including a 2006 protest in which the monument was set alight.
Timeline of Key Events
1980s — Halabja sits on the front line during the Iran–Iraq War.
1987–88 — The Anfal campaign devastates Kurdish communities across northern Iraq.
15 Mar 1988 — Iranian forces and Kurdish peshmerga take the town.
16 Mar 1988 — Iraqi aircraft gas Halabja, killing thousands of civilians.
2003 — The Halabja Martyrs Monument is established.
2014 — The KRG recognises Halabja as a separate province.
2025 — Iraq’s parliament recognises Halabja as the 19th governorate.
Debates and Controversies
Halabja remains the subject of painful debates. The death toll is usually given as 3,200 to 5,000, but exact figures are still disputed, and there are long-running arguments over how many remain affected by long-term illness. There is also debate over international responsibility: at the time, some Western governments that backed Iraq in its war with Iran were slow to condemn the attack, and survivors and Kurdish leaders argue the world looked away. Kurds widely insist the attack and the broader Anfal campaign should be recognised internationally as genocide; a number of parliaments and bodies have done so, while formal recognition remains incomplete. Within Iraq, there are continuing grievances over reconstruction, compensation and the long delay in granting Halabja provincial status. This profile lays out these competing perspectives rather than resolving them.
Significance for the Kurds
For Kurds, Halabja is a sacred and painful name — a symbol of the suffering inflicted on the Kurdish people and of their determination to survive and to be remembered. It stands alongside the Anfal campaign as the defining atrocity of the Ba’athist era, and its commemoration each March is central to Kurdish national memory. Halabja’s long campaign for recognition — as a victim of genocide and, finally, as a governorate in its own right — reflects a wider Kurdish struggle for acknowledgement, justice and dignity.
Related Places and Topics
Sulaymaniyah, the nearby city and former governorate Halabja belonged to.
Sinjar, another site of atrocity against Kurds. The wider Anfal campaign, the Hawraman highlands, and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Halabja?
Halabja is in the east of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, about 15 km from the Iranian border and roughly 250 km north-east of Baghdad, in mountainous country near the Hawraman highlands.
What happened in Halabja in 1988?
On 16 March 1988, Iraqi forces under Saddam Hussein bombed Halabja with chemical weapons — mustard gas and nerve agents — killing an estimated 3,200 to 5,000 civilians within hours. It is one of the worst chemical attacks ever carried out against civilians.
Is Halabja a province now?
Yes. After years of campaigning, the Iraqi parliament recognised Halabja as the country’s 19th governorate in 2025; the Kurdistan Regional Government had already recognised it as a province in 2014.
Is the Halabja attack recognised as genocide?
Many Kurds, along with a number of parliaments and bodies, regard the attack and the wider Anfal campaign as genocide. Full international legal recognition remains incomplete and is still campaigned for.
References and Further Reading
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