Salah al-Din declares holiday to mark 12th anniversary of Speicher massacre

SALAH AL-DIN — Salah al-Din Governor Haitham al-Zahwan has declared Thursday an official holiday across all government departments and institutions in the governorate to mark the 12th anniversary of the Speicher massacre.

The holiday is intended to allow victims’ families and residents to attend remembrance events while supporting organizational, service and security preparations for the occasion.

“The Speicher massacre is one of the most horrific terrorist crimes that targeted the people of Iraq,” the governor’s statement said.

The massacre took place in June 2014, when Islamic State militants executed approximately 1,700 unarmed Iraqi Air Force cadets at Camp Speicher near Tikrit after separating them from other prisoners. Most victims were Shia. It remains one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Iraq’s history.

The killings occurred during the Islamic State’s rapid advance through Iraq and Syria in 2014. Iraqi and Kurdish forces, backed by a US-led coalition, drove the group from Iraqi territory in 2017; US-backed Kurdish fighters seized its final Syrian stronghold in 2019.