Siege of Sadr City

Siege of Sadr City
Part of the Iraq War, the Iraqi Civil War, and the Battle of Baghdad (2006–2008)
Two US Army soldiers during a patrol through Sadr City in February 2006
Date April 4, 2004 – May 11, 2008 (4 years, 1 month and 1 week) Location Sadr City, Iraq Result Ceasefire agreement signed Iraqi government forces allowed to enter and patrol Sadr City[2] End of the Iraqi Civil War
Belligerents
United States Iraq  United Kingdom[1]	Mahdi Army
Commanders and leaders
Robert B. Abrams (1st Cav) Abboud Qanbar	Muqtada al-Sadr Tahseen al Freiji Arkan Muhammad Ali al Hasnawi †
Strength
10,000+ (May 2008)	May 2008 6,000 – 8,000 (U.S. military estimate)[3]
Casualties and losses
300 to 350 killed	800 to 1,000 killed

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"^[4] – 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.