Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Iraq's Kurds Mark Anniversary of Poison Gas Attack

   VOA News 16 March 2010
   Kurdish  girls  dressed  in  the  colours of their national flag stand
   behind  graves  of  victims  of the 1988 gas attacks during a ceremony
   marking  the  anniversary of the attacks in the Iraqi northern Kurdish
   town of Halabja on 16 Mar 2010.

Photo: AFP

   Kurdish  girls  dressed  in  the  colors  of their national flag stand
   behind  graves  of  victims  of the 1988 gas attacks during a ceremony
   marking  the  anniversary of the attacks in the Iraqi northern Kurdish
   town of Halabja, 16 Mar 2010

   Ceremonies  took  place in northern Iraq's Kurdistan region Tuesday to
   mark  the  22nd anniversary of a deadly chemical attack on the town of
   Halabja.
   Participants observed five minutes of silence in memory of 5,000 Kurds
   killed  during  a poison gas attack by forces of former Iraqi dictator
   Saddam Hussein.
   The  1988  attack  is  one  of the most infamous massacres of Saddam's
   anti-Kurd "Anfal" campaign.
   Iraqi Kurds have sought reparations from the post-Saddam government in
   Baghdad, as well as help for the thousands of people who have suffered
   after-effects of the attack.
   In  a statement released Tuesday, the Kurdistan Regional Government of
   Iraq  said  the  anniversary is also a time to "heal, seek closure and
   look forward."
   In  January,  the  Iraqi  government executed Saddam Hussein's cousin,
   Hassan  al-Majid,  for  the poison gas attack and other crimes against
   humanity.  He was widely known as "Chemical Ali."

.