Deadly chemical attack on Halabja, 30 years on

The 30th anniversary of the poison gas attack by the forces of Iraq’s former dictator, Saddam Hussein, on the northern town of Halabja, in which some 5,000 civilians, mostly Kurds, were killed, will be marked on Friday.

The attack, in 1988, came during the final phase of the Iraqi war against Iran, when Iraqi government troops bombarded the town and surrounding districts with chemical weapons.