Baqubah
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Baqubah (Arabic: بعقوبة ; BGN: Ba‘qūbah; also spelled Baquba and Baqouba) is the capital of Iraq's Diyala Governorate.
The city is located at , some 50 km to the northeast of Baghdad, on the Diyala River, within 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.
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.
On June 8, 2006, Iraqi and U.S. officials confirmed that al-Zarqawi had been killed in an airstrike and subsequent raid 8 km (5 miles) north of Baquba.[1]
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