Camp Speicher massacre

2014 Speicher massacre
Part of Northern Iraq offensive (June 2014)
A picture of the area where the massacre occurred.
Location	Tikrit, Salah ad Din, Iraq
Date	12 June 2014
Target	Iraqi Air force cadets
Attack type	Mass murder, Terrorism
Deaths	1,566–1,700
Perpetrators	Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Defender	Iraq

On 12 June 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) killed at least 1,566 Shia Iraqi Air Force cadets in an attack on Camp Speicher in Tikrit. At the time of the attack there were between 4,000 and 11,000 unarmed cadets in the camp. Alleged ISIS fighters singled out Shia and non-Muslim cadets from Sunni ones and murdered them. The Iraqi government blamed the massacre on both ISIS and members from the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region.

Iraqi politician Mish'an al-Jubori stated: "Some of the chief officers of the camp ordered the cadets to have a rest for 15 days and to go to their families, with civilian clothes. While they were walking on the highway looking for a bus to take them near Baghdad. Then two buses being driven by Ayman Sabawi Ibrahim, the son of Saddam Hussein's half brother, Sabawi Ibrahim al-Tikriti, stopped near them with 10 armed men inside of them. They told the cadets that they were from the Arab tribes of Tikrit, and told them to follow them until they find buses to get them to Baghdad. Instead, several buses with ISIS members in them kidnapped the cadets and brought them to the Al-Qusour Al-Re'asiya region (The Presidential Palaces), where they committed the massacre." Several survivors assured that their head officers in the camp forced them to leave it.

Peter Bouckaert, the emergencies director for Human Rights Watch, stated "The photos and satellite images from Tikrit provided a strong evidence of a horrible war crime that needs further investigation. [ISIS] and other abusive forces should know that the eyes of Iraqis and the world are watching". The HRW also said that ISIS posted on its websites many videos and photographs showing how they beheaded, shot, and choked the victims while they celebrated.

The photos show masked ISIS fighters tying up the cadets and loading them up on trucks, with other photographs showing ISIS fighters executing dozens of the cadets while they are lying down. ISIS propaganda videos show them shooting at hundreds of lined up men in mass graves in the desert. Some cadets faked their death, covering themselves with blood and lying down to escape at night. Survivor Ali Hussein Kadhim told his story to the New York Times following his escape from the massacre.