Operation Viking Hammer

Operation Viking Hammer
	Part of Kurdistan Islamist Conflict and 2003 invasion of Iraq
	; Halabja city
Date	March 28–30, 2003
Location	Around Halabja, Iraq
Result	American-Peshmerga victory End of the Islamic Emirate of Byara;
Belligerents
United States; Peshmerga PUK;	Islamic Emirate of Byara; Supported by:; Iran (alleged by Peshmerga)
Commanders and leaders
Kenneth E. Tovo; Jalal Talabani	Abu Abdullah al-Shafi'i; Ali Bapir
Units involved
US Army Special Forces; CIA SAD; CTG	Ansar al-Islam; Kurdistan Islamic Group
Strength
70 Americans (60 U.S. Army Special Forces members and 10 CIA SAD agents); 7,000 Peshmerga	600–800 fighters
Casualties and losses
3 killed, 23 wounded	150–200 killed, remainder captured or fled to Iran; 100 killed

Operation Viking Hammer was an unconventional warfare operation during the Iraq War which took place in northern Iraq, commonly known as Iraqi Kurdistan. The goal of the operation was to eliminate Ansar al-Islam and dismantle the Islamic Emirate of Byara. Ansar al-Islam was established by former Al-Qaeda members in 2001 as a Kurdish Salafist movement that imposed a strict application of Sharia in villages it controlled.

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