Qaladze bombardment was another chapter of Ba’ath atrocity, says KDP Barzani

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Commemorating the 49th anniversary of the bombardment of Qaladze town by the former Ba’athist regime, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) President Masoud Barzani on Monday said the tragedy was just "another chapter" of the atrocities of the former regime. 

On Apr. 24, 1974, the Iraqi Ba’athist regime dropped napalm bombs on the border town of Qaladze, where the University of Sulaimani was located. Hundreds were killed in the attack, including students and lecturers.

“The tragedy was a colossal oppression of the Kurdish people and marked another chapter of the Ba'ath regime's atrocities,” Barzani wrote in a tweet, paying tribute to those who were killed by the attack.

On the 49th anniversary of the bombing of the city of Qaladiza and the University of Sulaimani in the hands of the totalitarian Ba’th regime, I would like to pay my respects to the souls of the lost. The will of the people Kurdistan proved then and continues to prove to be…

— Masoud Barzani (@masoud_barzani) April 24, 2023

"The will of the people of Kurdistan proved then and continues to prove to be stronger than cruelty and injustice," the former president of the Kurdistan Region added.

Years later, in 1982, when local people of the town held a demonstration commemorating the massacre, the regime violently cracked down on them, killing two women: Mother Amina and Sister Mahmood.

The former regime, which was toppled in 2003 by a US-led coalition and Kurdish forces, had committed numerous atrocities against the Iraqi people, particularly the Kurds, including the chemical bombardments of Halabja and the ethnic cleansing campaign of Anfal.

Following his surrender to the American forces, the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was tried in court for crimes against humanity and other gross violations. He was executed in December 2006 in Baghdad.