TEHRAN, June 28 (MNA) – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said killing of people of Sardasht with chemical bombs is a sign of international terrorism.

Ahmadinejad’s remarks came in a message issued on the anniversary of the chemical bombardment of Sardasht, northwest Iran, in 1987.

In a similar message, Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani said that the chemical bombardment of Sardasht will remain in history as a “bitter evidence of human community disaster”.

In addition, Ahmet Uzumcu, the director of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), issued a message, in which he stated that collective efforts should be made to totally eliminate the threat of chemical weapons to the world.

Uzumcu also said that the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) should be effectively implemented to help achieve this goal.

June 29 is the National Day of Campaign against Use of Chemical and Microbiological Weapons in Iran. It coincides with the commemoration of the anniversary of the dastardly chemical attacks on the northwestern Iranian city of Sardasht by the Saddam regime in June 1987.

On this day, Iraqi aircraft dropped mustard gas bombs on Sardasht, in two separate bombing runs on four residential areas. The numbers of victims were initially estimated as 10 civilians dead and 650 civilians injured.

Out of a population of 20,000, 25% are still suffering severe illnesses from the attacks. The gas attacks occurred during the Iran–Iraq War, when Iraq frequently used chemical weapons against Iranian civilians and soldiers.