Syria chemical attack reopens old wounds among Kurds

HALABJA, Iraq (Reuters) - A sweet smell, like that of apples, wafted through the air. In a field, a cow's eyes began to stream. A bird fell from the sky, its feathers singed, and people's mouths began to fill with ulcers.

At least 5,000 people were gassed to death that spring day in 1988 when the Iraqi air force dropped chemical bombs on the town of Halabja in the country's Kurdish north - a defining moment in a long history of oppression.