The Pasht Ashan massacre was a raid on the Iraqi Communist Party headquarters in Pasht Ashan, Iraqi Kurdistan, in which the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan killed over 150 members of the group and severely weakened it.
[1] The Iraqi Communist Party made a deal with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of the two main Kurdish factions.
This shift of alliance was caused by the PUK's willingness to make a peace agreement with Saddam Hussein.
In May 1983, al-Ansar forces entered the Pasht Ashan area, a zone that both PUK and KDP claimed.
[2] The radio station run by the Iraqi Communist Party in the area was destroyed by the PUK, which also seized ammunitions and food supplies.