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| Battle of Baghdad | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theIraqi civil war | ||||||||
 Armed Iraqi insurgents in November 2006 | ||||||||
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| Belligerents | ||||||||
|
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| Commanders and leaders | ||||||||
 Jalal TalabaniIbrahim al-JaafariNouri al-Maliki Abdul Sattar Abu Risha †Ahmad Abu Risha John Abizaid |  Abu Ayyub al-MasriAbu Omar al-Baghdadi |  Muqtada al-SadrAbu Deraa Qais al-Khazali (POW) Akram al-Kaabi Arkan al-Hasnawi †  Abdul Aziz al-HakimAbu Mustafa al-Sheibani | ||||||
| Strength | ||||||||
| 90,000+[4] | Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | ||||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| 11,000+ recorded civilian deaths(as of late 2007)[5] | ||||||||
TheBattle of Baghdad began in February 2006 and continued until May 2008, for control of thecapital city ofIraq. A combined force ofIraqi security forces and the allies including theU.S. Army fought against insurgents to retain control of the city during thesectarian civil war that engulfed the country in 2006.[6][7][8]
The battle coincided with an unsuccessful coalition operation calledTogether Forward which was to significantly reduce the violence inBaghdad which had seen a sharp uprise insectarian violence since the mid-February 2006bombing of the Askariya Mosque,[9] a majorShia Muslim shrine. Insurgents managed take control of more than 80 percent of Baghdad[10] before an offensive conducted byIraqi forces and allies to secure Baghdad. Insurgents also made huge gains in the western Al Anbar and southern Babil province, temporarily forcing Coalition and Iraqi security forces from many towns and cities. Most direct insurgent control of Baghdad ended by late 2007, and by mid-2008, Iraqi forces andallies mostly secured Baghdad and reached an agreement withMahdi army to allow government forces to enter and patrol theSadr City district of the city, thus fully securing Baghdad and restoring calm in the central parts of Iraq.[11]
