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Blackanthem Military News
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Last Updated:
Mar 20, 2010 - 5:39:42 PM |
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Baqubah (Arabic: BGN: Ba'qūbah; also spelled Baquba and Baqouba) is the capital of Iraq's Diyala Governorate.
The city is located some 50 km to the northeast of Baghdad, on the Diyala River, just outside Iraq's so-called Sunni Triangle. In 2002 it had an estimated population of some 280,000 people.
The site has been inhabited continuously since pre-Islamic times as a center for agriculture and commerce. The name itself is thought to have come from the Assyrian language Baya 'quba, meaning “Yacoub's (Jacob) house.” It served as a waystation between Baghdad and Khorasan on the medieval Silk Road. It is now known as the center of Iraq's commercial orange groves.
Recent history
During the course of the U.S-led occupation of Iraq, Baquba emerged as the scene of some of the heaviest guerrilla activity, along with the Sunni enclaves of Fallujah, Ramadi, and Samarra. It was the site of the heaviest fighting during the June 24, 2004 insurgent offensive. Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, took responsibility for the attacks.
In a setback for insurgents, Iraqi and U.S. officials confirmed on June 8, 2006, that al-Zarqawi had been killed in an airstrike and subsequent raid 8 km (5 miles) north of Baquba. During late 2006, however, Baqubah and much of Diyala province were reported to have come under Sunni insurgent control. On January 3, 2007 the previous Iraqi government in Baquba was reported to have fallen, leaving the city in the hands of insurgents fighting against the American led coalition in Operation Iraqi Freedom.This insurgent control is reported to have continued as of early 2007. In January 2007, it was reported that Sunni insurgents were able to kidnap the mayor and blow up his office, despite promises from American and Iraqi military officials that the situation in the city was "reassuring and under control". The city at its peak had over 300,000 residents, but a February 2007 report labeled the city a "ghost town" as residents either fled criminal and sectarian violence or remained in hiding at home.
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