The Baathists seized power in Iraq through a military coup from July 17 to 30, 1968. As a constant tradition to reorganize and consolidate their power in Iraq, they began negotiating and making baseless promises to solve the Kurdish issue. It did not take long, and like other regimes, they soon turned away from implementing the demands of the revolution and solving the Kurdish issue, and resumed attacks on Peshmerga positions in late Year 1968.
In the period from August 1968 to November 1968, the Iraqi Army resumed its series of attacks on various areas of Kurdistan, and one of the areas (Akre-Sheikhan) was subjected to a new attack by the Iraqi Army (Baathist government) and mercenary gunmen, which led to crimes and casualties such as the Dukan Cave massacre.
Dukan was an attractive village near the Khazir River on the slopes of Mount Khere in the Sheikhan area. The village's population was about 20 to 30 families working in agriculture, and the village was famous for its orchards, olives, and fruits.
After one Year of Baathist rule, specifically in mid-August 1969, the Iraqi Army launched a major military attack on Akre in the Shamkan area, such as the villages of Blan, Tele, Mersida, Sarkaf, Khort, Dukan, Nirok, Basfren, and Bire on the slope of Mount Khere, with the support of hundreds of Herki mercenaries and various heavy and light weapons, to suppress the Kurds and thwart the Aylul Revolution. The attack was supervised by Minister of Interior Salih Mahdi Ammash and led by Abdul-Jabbar al-Asadi, Commander of the Fourth Division. He shelled the area from the air with cannons and aircraft, burning everything green and dry together. The Peshmerga force in (Akre – Sheikhan) defended with only the light rifles they possessed.
The war began with shelling and airstrikes in Mariba, Sherne, and Bakurman, then they launched an infantry attack on the area. The people of Dukan village, like all other villages, took refuge in a cave near their village, which is Dukan Cave, to protect themselves and hide inside the cave to avoid artillery shelling and aircraft. In order to prevent the Iraqi Army from finding them, they collected a lot of wood in front of the cave, but another report says that several huts were built one hundred meters in front of the cave and they placed some furniture in them as a temporary home for them.
It seems that the army forces and government gunmen were advancing until they reached inside the village on August 18, 1969. Immediately, they began looting the villagers' property and then set fire to their homes. Then they began searching the villagers until they found the cave where 66 citizens were hiding, including women, children, elders, and disabled people. The men had headed to the mountains. The Iraqi Army and mercenary gunmen fired at the cave and set fire to the trees and huts built in front of the cave. The sounds of gunfire and the screams of women and children mixed together until they were all filled with smoke and the fire of the army and mercenaries, and they were killed and suffocated. The first to be martyred in front of the cave was an elderly disabled man who was hit by a bullet. Some women tried to jump and cross through the fire to reach a well near the cave, but they burned to the point that they could not reach the water and were martyred. Not a single person survived this treacherous attack, and they were all martyred, including 37 children, 29 women, and an old man.
A few days later, a group of Peshmerga who heard about this tragedy came to the cave to help them, but they saw that it was over and they were all martyred. With the help of the masses of the area, they prepared a cemetery near the cave and buried them all in it. A few days later, a group of Peshmerga attacked the villages of Kons, Khor, and Chlo, which are Herki villages, and looted and burned them in retaliation for the Dukan Cave incident.
Sources:1- Masoud Barzani, Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement, Volume Three, Part One, Aylul Revolution 1961-1975, First Edition, (2004).
2- Hozhin Masoud Sarni, The Aylul Revolution in the Behdinan Region 1961-1975, First Edition, (2018).
3- Shawkat Mela Ismail Hassan, Days in the History of the Aylul Revolution, First Edition, (Erbil- 2007).
4- Ari Karim, Several Living Pages in the Aylul Revolution, (Khabat Press- Duhok- 1999).
5- Haji Mirxan Dolemari, Searching for Justice, Volume One, Second Edition, (Isra Press- Tehran- 2021).