Halabja is a strategic Iraqi Kurdish city of some 70,000 located close to the Iranian border. In March 1988, as the Iran-Iraq War was coming to its final climax, Iranian and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) forces managed to capture the town. On 16 March 1988, Iraq retaliated with the largest chemical warfare attack since World War I. Some 5,000 Kurds died. The very name Halabja became notorious for chemical warfare and the refusal of the international community to help end Kurdish suffering. Saddam Hussein soon stepped up his notorious Anfal campaign upon the war's conclusion.
Before this notoriety, Halabja was noted among Kurds for its bookstores. More recently, it has become a center of Islamic fundamentalist activity. It also houses a memorial museum to the chemical attack. On 17 March 2006, however, hundreds of stone-throwing protesters — most of them students from universities in the Kurdistan region home for vacation—beat back government guards, stormed, and then destroyed the museum. The riot was in protest against what was seen as Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) corruption and was a major challenge to the joint rule of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and PUK in the KRG.
Historical Dictionary of the Kurds. Michael M. Gunter.