battle, Cold War

Battle of Kirkuk

Name: Battle of Kirkuk
Start: 1991-03-11
Location: Kirkuk, Iraq

Battle of Kirkuk was a battle fought on 11 March 1991 at Kirkuk, in what is now Iraq; it lasted 18 days. It was part of the Iraqi–Kurdish conflict, which ran from 1918 to 2003. The recorded result: Iraqi victory. Recorded strength: Unknown against 100,000.

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Fought11 March 1991lasted 18 days

WhereKirkuk, Iraq35.467N, 44.317E

OutcomeIraqi victory

BelligerentsIraqi government; Republican Guard; Ba'ath Party loyalist forcesagainstPeshmerga; Patriotic Union of Kurdistan; Kurdistan Democratic Party; Deserters from the Jash

Part ofIraqi–Kurdish conflict1918 to 2003

Record

Date	11 March 1991 to 29 March 1991
Place	Kirkuk, Iraq 35.467N, 44.317E
Kind	Battle, Cold War
Territorial change	Kirkuk is taken fully by rebels, then re-taken by Iraqi forces
Strength	Unknown	100,000
Commanders	Ali Hassan al-Majid	Jalal Talabani Nawshirwan Mustafa Masoud Barzani

The recorded site, with the nearest other engagements in the atlas. Present-day coastlines, rivers and borders; towns from Natural Earth.

Nearest engagements

Battle of Arrapha 616 BC, same recorded site
Battle of the Stragna River 1048, 16 km W
Battle of Kirkuk (1733) 1733, 19 km SE
Siege of Erbil (1258) 1258, 85 km N
Battle of the Zab AD 750, 105 km NW

Elsewhere in 1991

Battle of Kirkuk is one of 2,997 engagements of the 20th century in the atlas and one of 173 in present-day Iraq.

Sources

Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q4587295, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Battle of Kirkuk (1991), revision 1382693696, read 2026-11-14, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.