Halabja, standing against oppression

Joy and happiness permeated the air in Halabja. Smiles never faded from the lips of the ever oppressed people of this town.
The Iraqi fighter planes carried out the chemical bombing of Halabja, and some hours later the news came that Khormal, too, had suffered chemical bombing. The sound of laughter died down.
Children sought the shelter of their mothers' arms. March 16, was the beginning of the great crime of history.
On Thursday March 17, 1988, and on Friday March 18, there took place one of the most shameful and fearful inhumane crimes of history in Halabja. The town of Halabja was bombed with chemical and cluster bombs more than twenty times by Iraqi fighter planes.
In every street and alley women and children rolled over one another. The sound of crying and groans rose from every house in the town.
Many families who were sleeping happily in their beds in their liberated town, were subjected before sunrise to chemical bombing, and poisonous gases did not even allow them to rise from their beds. Such was the situation on the bloody Friday of Halabja.