IRAQ-KURDS-ANNIVERSARY-HALABJA

IRAQ-KURDS-ANNIVERSARY-HALABJA

An Iraqi Kurd family visits a grave yard for the victims of a gas attack by former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in 1988, as people mark the 26th anniversary of the attack in the Kurdish town of Halabja, 300 kms (190 miles) northeast of Baghdad on March 16, 2014. Some 5,000 civilians, mostly women and children, were killed in the chemical gas attack by Saddam Hussein’s airforce as part of a campaign to crush a Kurdish rebellion, Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani today, signed a regional directive to promote Halabja from district status to a province. AFP PHOTO/SAFIN HAMED