The National Center for Population and Demographic Studies organized a workshop entitled (Victims of International Terrorism) delivered by the Head of the Department of Population and Demographic Studies, Prof. Dr. Majid Saddam Salem.
The workshop aimed to illustrate the challenges facing Iraq since the beginning of the new millennium and the resulting terrorism in terms of thousands of victims, destruction of infrastructure, and destabilization of security and stability in the country. He also reviewed the various aspects of this phenomenon, including its causes, effects, and how to address it, and also highlighted the Speicher massacre, which is considered a model of terrorism.
The workshop dealt with the Speicher massacre as one of the most tragic events that Iraq has witnessed during the recent period. This massacre occurred on June 12, 2014, when hundreds of Iraqi soldiers training at Speicher Air Base near Tikrit were attacked by the Islamic State (ISIS). This incident is not just a passing incident, but a turning point in Iraq’s modern history, reflecting profound humanitarian, political, and social dimensions.
Reports indicate that approximately 1,700 Iraqi soldiers were brutally executed by ISIS during this massacre. They were held in groups and then killed in mass executions. Many of these crimes have been documented by human rights organizations, making the massacre one of the worst atrocities in Iraq’s modern history.