Information on military confrontations in northern Iraq between 1986 and 1988 [IRQ23601.E]

For information on the above-mentioned subject please consult the attached documents. Please note that between 1986 and 1988 Kurdish, Iraqi and Iranian troops were all involved in fighting in the region.

According to Keesing's Record of World Events,

Kurdish guerrillas fighting in the north of the country for autonomy from the Baghdad government achieved a number of successes during 1987-88, capturing a number of towns and forcing the Iraqi Army to reinforce the area to counter the threat. On April 14, 1987, the guerrillas, aided by Iranian Revolutionary Guards, were reported to have overrun Iraqi military bases and fortifications, killing 1,500 Iraqis and capturing strategic heights near the town of Suleymaniyeh. It was alleged that the Iraqis then carried out a number of gas attacks against 20 Kurdish villages in the area in an attempt to regain control of the villages. It was reported that 33 Kurds, mostly civilians, were killed and 450 wounded (Apr. 1988, 35862).

Furthermore,

On May 22, 1987, more than 4,000 Iraqi Kurds were reported to have fled to Iran following clashes with the Iraqi Army which was attempting to evacuate villages and towns close to the front-line to the east and north of Suleymaniyeh (ibid, 35863).

Please note that Middle East Watch has published two extensive reports on a 1987-89"campaign of extermination against the Kurds of northern Iraq" (1993, 3). Please find attached the introduction to one of these reports entitled Genocide in Iraq: The Anfal Campaign Against the Kurds which outlines a number of conflicts and human rights abuses committed by the Iraqi Armed Forces against the Kurds in various locations in northern Iraq between 1987 and 1989 (ibid.).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

References


Keesing's Record of World Events (Cambridge(. April 1988. Vol. 34, No. 4. "Kurdish Insurgency-Gas Attacks-Taking of Italian Hostages."

Middle East Watch. July 1993. Genocide in Iraq: The Anfal Campaign Against the Kurds. New York: Human Rights Watch.

Attachments


Brogan, Patrick. 1990. The Fighting Never Stopped: A Comprehensive Guide to World Conflict Since 1945. New York: Vintage Books, pp. 267-68.

Hiro, Dilip. 1990. The Longest War: The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict. London: Harper Collins, pp. 287-96.

Keesing's Record of World Events (Cambridge(. April 1988. Vol. 34, No. 4. "Kurdish Insurgency-Gas Attacks-Taking of Italian Hostages," pp. 35862-35863

Middle East Watch. July 1993. Genocide in Iraq: The Anfal Campaign Against the Kurds. New York: Human Rights Watch, pp. 3-21.

The World in Conflict 1989. War Annual 3: Contemporary Warfare Described and Analysed. Edited by John Laffin. London: Brassey's Defence Publishers, pp. 103-16, 137-42.