June 13
2012
13 June 2012 Iraq attacks
On June 13, 2012, a coordinated wave of bombings, roadside explosives and shootings struck multiple cities across Iraq — most heavily in Baghdad, Kirkuk, Mosul, Baqubah, Taji and Iskandariya — killing roughly 90–110 people and wounding several hundred. The attacks came during a fragile post‑2011 security transition and were widely attributed to Sunni extremist networks tied to al‑Qaeda in Iraq. Read more
1997
Uphaar Cinema fire
On the evening of June 13, 1997, smoke from an electrical fault spread through the Uphaar Cinema in Green Park, New Delhi, as a packed audience watched the film Border. Locked and obstructed exits turned hallways into traps; 59 people died—mostly from smoke inhalation—and scores were injured. The disaster triggered years of litigation, tightened scrutiny of fire-safety enforcement, and a long struggle by victims' families for accountability. Read more
1944
V-1 flying bomb campaign (Vergeltungswaffe 1)
Beginning on June 13, 1944, Nazi Germany launched the V-1 — a pulsejet‑powered “flying bomb” nicknamed the buzz bomb or doodlebug — in an attempt to terrorize and disrupt Britain and later Allied ports. The campaign forced fast, improvised defenses (Operation Diver), sustained attacks on launch infrastructure (Operation Crossbow), and a brutal learning curve in both technology and civil protection. Roughly 9,000–10,000 V‑1s were produced and launched; British wartime figures record about 6,184 killed and 17,981 injured from attacks on the United Kingdom. The campaign reshaped air‑defence tactics and fed postwar missile research. Read more
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1917
Ashton-under-Lyne munitions explosion (National Filling Factory No. 2 explosion)
On 13 June 1917 a massive accidental detonation tore through National Filling Factory No. 2 on the outskirts of Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire. The blast — one of several wartime filling-factory disasters — killed 43 people, injured about 126 others, destroyed workshop blocks and shattered the quiet of a town whose women had come to fill shells for the Western Front.
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