The Siege of Sadr City was a blockade of the Shi'a district of northeastern Baghdad carried out by US and Iraqi government forces in an attempt to destroy the main power base of the insurgent Mahdi Army in Baghdad. The siege began on 4 April 2004 – later dubbed "Black Sunday" – with an uprising against the Coalition Provisional Authority following the government banning of a newspaper published by Muqtada Al-Sadr's Sadrist Movement. The most intense periods of fighting in Sadr City occurred during the first uprising in April 2004, the second in August the same year, during the sectarian conflict that gripped Baghdad in late 2006, during the Iraq War troop surge of 2007, and during the spring fighting of 2008.
Background
On March 28, 2004, the US leader of the Coalition Provisional Authority of Iraq, Paul Bremer, ordered the 60-day closure of Al Hawza, a newspaper published by Muqtada al-Sadr's group, on the charges of inciting violence against occupation authorities. The next day, thousands of Iraqis rallied outside the offices of Al Hawza in support of the newspaper.
On April 3, Bremer sent troops to al-Sadr's home and arrested Mustafa Yaqoubi, a top lieutenant, sparking further protests.
On April 4, al-Sadr issued a statement calling on his supporters to stop staging demonstrations "because your enemy prefers terrorism". "America has unsheathed its fangs and its despicable intentions, and the conscientious Iraqi people cannot remain silent at all. They must defend their rights in the ways they see fit," the statement said, according to The Washington Post. On the same day as this statement was given, the Mahdi Army began an uprising against coalition forces. The fighting spread across the south of Iraq, while in Baghdad the fighting was concentrated in the city's Shi'a areas, mainly Sadr City. This uprising occurred simultaneously with an offensive launched by Sunni insurgents in western Iraq.
Siege
Beginning of the siege
As the fighting began on April 4, 2004, Mahdi Army militiamen ambushed a US Army 1st Cavalry Division patrol and Iraqi police were expelled from three police stations in Sadr City. Members of the newly-arrived 1st Cavalry Division and elements of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment were sent out to recapture the stations. Eight US troops were killed and 51 more were wounded in the bloody battle. US forces from the 759th Military Police Battalion (759th MP BN) subsequently regained control of the police stations after running firefights with Mahdi rebels that resulted in the deaths of 35 militiamen; over 500 were reported killed by the Iraqi Ministry of Health. Mahdi Army members still maintained control over many of the slum areas of Sadr City.
On May 15, 2004, six soldiers from the New Jersey National Guard, assigned to the 759th MP BN as C, 759th MP BN, and operationally controlled by the 1st Cavalry Division, were pinned down by enemy fire. Their patrol element was equipped with two HMMWV's, and were ambushed at Al-Karama Iraqi police station in Sadr City. The six soldiers defended the Iraqi police–who were not willing to fight–as well as their station, taking on small arms fire and rocket propelled grenade attacks. The patrol's communications devices were blocked by surrounding buildings and the troops were unable to call for support. After several hours of engaging the enemy and defending in place while surrounded by ambushing enemy elements, the firefight was observed by coalition aerial support elements, followed by an armored vehicle patrol who assisted in their egress out of the Iraqi police station and the city. Reports later indicated that the coordinated enemy attack from the Mahdi Army consisted of over 100 militiamen, and the six US soldiers killed an estimated 19 insurgents while enduring no casualties to their own team–or the Iraqi police who refused to assist in the engagement. After the egress of the US Army element, the police station was completely destroyed.
The US Army did not establish a blockade around Sadr City and did not have military checkpoints around the slum. The coalition's task of destroying the Mahdi Army in the district was not easy for two reasons. The first reason being fear of mass civilian casualties if there was a direct attack because of the large number of people living in Sadr City. Secondly, the narrow streets in the district made US armored vehicle movement difficult because of their size. Despite this initial concern, the 1st Cavalry Division consistently retained freedom of movement in Sadr City, conducting multiple patrols every day and night. Mahdi Army militiamen, for their part, coordinated a system of security in the slum that ran parallel to the official police structure, but this soon crumbled as they suffered heavy casualties in the uprising.
In subsequent months, Sadr City experienced near-constant combat that was occasionally lifted following agreements by the Mahdi Army to end the fighting. These temporary ceasefires would be called off because of repeated violations of the agreements. The Mahdi Army occasionally shelled the Green Zone, the central seat of coalition power in Iraq, with mortars and rockets from the district. These attacks ceased when US Army artillery and attack helicopters destroyed militia mortar and rocket teams. The rocket attacks would return after a year, and grew both in number and sophistication due to the training of the Mahdi Army.
Militiamen also conducted raids against coalition forces outside Sadr City in other parts of Baghdad. On June 4, a Mahdi Army ambush on a US National Guard patrol on Palestine Street, near Sadr City, left five US soldiers dead. Occasional heavy street fighting took place, such as on September 7, when one US soldier and 40 Iraqis were killed and another 270 people were wounded during street battles on the outskirts of the district. Three other US soldiers were killed in a string of attacks across the capital that day.
2006–2007 sectarian killings
In late 2006, insurgent forces controlled more than 80 percent of Baghdad, during which an intense sectarian turf war broke out between Sunni and Shia insurgents, including the Mahdi Army. Massacres occurred that left 50, 60 or 70 bodies throughout Baghdad per day.
Sadr City was spared from most of the massacres because of the blockade and the tight Mahdi Army control of the district. However, al-Qaeda elements conducted suicide and car bomb attacks in the district against the local Shias. One of the deadliest attacks was a series of car bombs and mortar attacks in Sadr City on November 23, 2006, that began at 15:10 and ended at 15:55, which left at least 215 civilians dead and some 257 wounded. Six car bombs and two mortar rounds were used in the attack on the Shi'ite Muslim slum. Three days later, on November 26, 2006, three more US Army soldiers were killed by an IED on the outskirts of Sadr City. They were PFC. Joshua C. Burrows of E Co 1-8 Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division; 1LT. David M. Fraser; and CPT. Jason R. Hamill.
Operation Imposing Law and the August 2007 cease–fire
In February 2007, the coalition launched Operation Imposing Law with the sole purpose of wresting control of Baghdad from the insurgents. Heavy street battles, block-by-block, neighborhood-by-neighborhood, ensued for the next six months. There were several skirmishes on the outskirts of Sadr City but the coalition refrained from directly assaulting the district for the time being. During the spring and summer of 2007, several members of the British SAS, serving as part of Task Force Knight, were seriously wounded as the task force extended its operations into Sadr City. By late November the operation ended with southern portions of Baghdad still remaining in al-Qaeda hands and the whole of Sadr City still under Mahdi Army control.
In late August, heavy fighting erupted in Karbala between the Mahdi Army and policemen who were members of the rival Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council. More than 50 people were killed. Following this, Sadr declared a unilateral cease-fire to be implemented by all branches and elements of the Mahdi Army. The cease-fire was observed by most of the Mahdi Army, but coalition forces still continued to harass the Mahdi Army with constant raids. The coalition stated they were only targeting rogue elements of the militia. However, during this time a complete reorganisation of the Mahdi Army was conducted and almost all of the criminal and rogue elements of the militia were eliminated by Sadr. Despite this, coalition raids continued into March 2008.
March 2008 fighting
On March 25, an Iraqi military assault was launched against the port city of Basra, which was held by a number of militia groups, but primarily by the Mahdi Army. This led to the collapse of the cease-fire and the continuation of the fighting in Sadr City. Beginning early in the morning of March 25, Mahdi Army militia launched a number of rocket and mortar attacks from Sadr City at US forward operating bases throughout Baghdad, as well as the Green Zone.
On March 28, the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, declared an around-the-clock curfew on Baghdad after fighting spread from Basra into the capital. During the fighting on the evening of March 28, reports emerged that a unit of 500 policemen decided to defect and join the Mahdi Army. The next morning, in a well-publicized event in Sadr City, 40 men who said they were Iraqi police officers surrendered their weapons to Sadr officials saying "We can't fight our brothers in the Mahdi Army, so we came here to submit our weapons." In return, the Sadr officials gave the officers olive branches and Korans. The weapons were returned after the officers pledged not to use them against Mahdi Army members. "These weapons are for defending the country but not for fighting your brothers," said Sheik Salman al-Fraji, head of the Sadr office there (See also: Video coverage of event on YouTube). Another 15 soldiers also surrendered elsewhere in Baghdad.
During the heavy street fighting in Sadr City and its neighboring districts between March 23-31, 2008, 180 militants and 150 civilians were killed. Nine US soldiers were killed during the fighting along with a number of members from the Iraqi security forces. Two US diplomats and two Iraqi policemen were killed in the shelling of the Green Zone during this period.
On March 31, al-Maliki's curfew was lifted in most parts of Baghdad following another unilateral ceasefire called by Muqtada al-Sadr. However the curfew remained in effect in Sadr City into April and al-Sadr's ceasefire lasted until April 6.
April 2008 US–Iraqi assault
On April 6, 2008, the Iraqi National Security Council released a statement calling on all political parties to disband their militias if they wanted to participate in the elections later in the year. The statement was seen to be directed at Muqtada al-Sadr, who derived most of his support from Sadr City.
On the same day, a joint US–Iraqi military force, including Iraqi elements drawn from the 11th Division, advanced into the southern suburbs of Sadr City, provoking heavy street fighting as militiamen opened fire with RPGs and automatic weapons. It was the first time US forces carried out a direct ground incursion into Sadr City. Two Iraqi Army armored vehicles and two trucks were destroyed and one US Stryker armored personnel carrier was damaged. US Apache helicopters provided air support during the battle, launching Hellfire missiles at militiamen and their vehicles. US forces reported nine militiamen were killed in one such air strike around 8 a.m. (local time) after militiamen attacked Iraqi troops with RPGs. The joint raid was a part of a coalition attempt to stop mortar and rocket fire on the Green Zone by seizing neighborhoods in Sadr City being used as launching points by the Mahdi Army. Rockets and mortar fire continued to fall on the Green Zone and US military bases around the capital during the assault. Three US soldiers and at least 20 Iraqis had been killed by the end of the day. 31 US soldiers were also wounded in the fighting.