Iraq Spring Fighting of 2004 - Close of Operations

Close of Operations

On June 6, 2004, Muqtada al-Sadr issued an announcement directing the Mahdi Army to cease operations in Najaf and Kufa, but the fighting in the south continued until June 24, 2004. Coincidentally, just as the Shi'a and Sunni offensives started together on the same day, they ended on the same day. On the day that the fighting ceased in the south, a massive coordinated attack by insurgents was underway in the Sunni territories. In five cities - Ramadi, Baghdad, Mahmudiya, Baquba and Mosul - attacks were underway. In Baghdad a suicide bomber killed four Iraqi soldiers, but the attacks in Mosul were the bloodiest. Four suicide bombers killed fifty-six civilians, eight Iraqi policemen and two American soldiers. The most intense fighting was in Baquba, where, with precise and strategic attack, the insurgents attacked and took control of the main police station and city hall, and burned down the home of the police chief. American and Iraqi troops withdrew from the city, but after a few hours American bomber planes hit insurgent positions in the city at city hall, the police station and at the football stadium. After the air strikes, the American forces entered the city without resistance.
Twenty-one members of the Iraqi security forces, two American soldiers and thirteen civilians were killed during the street fighting in Baquba. The only gain by the insurgents on this day was in Ramadi, where insurgent forces managed to take control and laid siege to Marine bunker positions. The city was under insurgent control by the end of the day. Some additional fighting was also reported around Fallujah, where nine civilians were said to have been killed. During the insurgent offensive on June 24, 2004 one hundred twenty-nine Iraqis and four Americans were killed. The number of insurgent casualties is unknown.