Remembering 1st Anfal Operation: Jafayati Valley Anfal

PUKMEDIA

Anfal Monument in Dukan town.

The first Anfal Operation began on the morning of 23 February 1988 and lasted 26 days until Saturday, 19 March 1988. The operation was directly supervised by former Iraqi Defense Minister Adnan Khairullah, Ali Hassan al-Majid, head of the Ba'ath Party's northern office, and Nizar Abdul Karim al-Khazrji, chief of staff of the Iraqi army.

Some information about the 1st Anfal:

* 20 brigades of the Iraqi army, 30 battalions of the Republican Guard, 110 jash battalions and a number of  units belonging to informants - they called foals by the local people- participated, with more than 100,000 armed men.

* They attacked the villages of Jafayati Valley towards Marga along 70 kilometers from nine directions. The villages included (Dukan, Bingird, Chwarta, Qalachwalan, Mawat, Karez, Sarchinar and Surdash).

* On the morning of 23 February 1988, the Iraqi army used chemical weapons in the villages of Chokhmakh, Yakhsamar, Haladin, Chalaw, Sargalw and Bargalw.

* On 25 and 26 February, the villages of Sargalw, Haladin, Yakhsamar and Gwezle were bombed with chemical weapons.

* There were 8 martyrs and 201 wounded in the 26 February chemical attack.

Four days after the end of the 1st Anfal operation on 23 March 1988, 22 people were martyred and more than 720 civilians and Peshmergas were wounded.

* During the first Anfal, the region was bombed with chemical weapons seven times.

* About 150 villages were affected by the attack, all houses, mosques, schools and hospitals were destroyed and some of the people were massacred.

* During the 1st Anfal, dozens of people froze in the snow after leaving their homes.

* More than 160 civilians were killed and nearly 500 people were massacred.

“The 1st Anfal ended with the official statement No. 3087 of the Armed Forces Command on Saturday 19 March 1988.

Source: Ten organizations and publications in the field of genocide

Iraq's fallen Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath dictatorial regime launched the Anfal campaign early in 1988, targeting Kurdish civilians and lasting until September of that year. It is widely regarded as one of the most dangerous cases of state-sponsored mass murder during Iraq's Ba'ath regime. 

The military and regular forces, including the First Corps in Kirkuk and the Fifth Corps in Erbil, as well as the Air Force, Special Forces, Republican Guard, Commando Forces, security and intelligence services, military intelligence, and chemical and biological weapons departments, were all mobilized to carry out these operations. The Anfal atrocities killed over 182,000 Kurdish civilians, including women, children, and the elderly.

According to statistics, 270 mass graves have been discovered since Iraq's liberation, with many more still to be found. The majority of these graves are concentrated in the area between Diwaniyah, Samawah, and Najaf provinces. 



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