PM Barzani commemorates Qaladze bombardment tragedy
Years later, in 1982, when local people of the town held a demonstration commemorating the massacre, the regime violently cracked down on them.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Monday commemorated the 49th anniversary of the Qaladze bombardment and the shooting of protestors in the early 1980s.
“We pay special tributes to the martyrs of Qaladze bombardment and all the Kurdish nation's martyrs,” Barzani said in a tweet, commemorating the 49th anniversary of the town’s bombardment and shooting of the protestors years later.
The premier shared a short graphic video explaining the tragedy along with the tweet.
لە ساڵڤەگەڕی هەردوو کارەساتی بۆردومانکردنی شاری قەڵادزێ لە 1974 و گوللەبارانکردنی ڕاپەڕینی 1982، بە شکۆوە یادی شەهیدانی قەڵادزێ و سەرجەم شەهیدانی گەلی کوردستان دەکەینەوە.
— Masrour Barzani (@masrourbarzani) April 24, 2023
هەمیشە لە یادمانن. pic.twitter.com/fXKM8FKE0Z
On Apr. 24, 1974, the Iraqi Ba'ath regime dropped napalm bombs on the border town of Qaladze, where the University of Sulaimani was located. More than a hundred people were killed in the attack, including students and lecturers.
Years later, in 1982, when local people of the town held a demonstration commemorating the massacre, the regime violently cracked down on them.
The tragedy was “another chapter” of the former Ba’ath regime’s atrocities, Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) President Masoud Barzani said in a tweet.
The bombardment was a “futile attempt” by the dictatorial regime to break the will of the Kurdish people and their liberation movement, President Nechirvan Barzani of the Kurdistan Region said.
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.