The 1981–1982 Iran massacres were a state-sponsored campaign of violence aimed at exterminating political and religious adversaries of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It followed a period of unrest and protests that culminated in the June 28, 1981 bombing at the Islamic Republican Party headquarters, in which 74 leading officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran were killed. The subsequent period of retaliations became known as the "reign of terror". The victims included intellectuals, scientists, artists, socialists, social democrats, members and sympathizers of Mujahedin-e-Khalq, nationalists, liberals, monarchists, ethnic minorities, and followers of minority religions such as the Bahá'í Faith.