3/16/1988

“In March [16] 1988, PUK [Patriotic Union of Kurdistan] and Iranian forces captured the town of Halabja [in Iraqi Kurdistan]. The Iraqi government forces retaliated by launching a massive chemical weapons attack on the townsfolk of Halabja. Nearly 5,000 civilians were gassed to death.”

 – Ali A. Allawi, The Occupation of Iraq, Page 37