Mahmoudiyah, Iraq

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Al-Mahmudiyah (Iraq)
Al-Mahmudiyah
Al-Mahmudiyah

Mahmoudiyah (also transliterated Mahmudiyah, Mahmoudi, or Mahmoodiyah, prefixed usually with Al-) is a Sunni Arab Iraqi city south of Baghdad. Known as the “Gateway to Baghdad,” the city's proximity to Baghdad made it central to the counterinsurgency campaign.

The population is approximately 500,000.

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[edit] War crime incident

During the Iraq War, a war crime took place in Mahmudiyah in March of 2006 in which five soldiers of the 502d Infantry Regiment, including Steven D. Green, raped a 14-year-old Iraqi girl, Abeer Qasim Hamza, and then murdered her, her father, her mother Fakhriya Taha Muhasen and her seven-year-old sister. Then burned their bodies to conceal evidence of the crime, More than one of the soldiers admitted to the crime. One of them has been discharged, and trials are ongoing as of Feb 20, 2007.[1]

Earlier, in late 2003, The Observer and Human Rights Watch reported a less volatile incident in Al-Mahmudiyah associated with the soldiers from the 82nd Airborne’s 3rd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment.

[edit] Civil infrastructure

Efforts have been conducted into rebuilding the city.[2] The current mayor (as of January 2007) is Muayid Fadil Hussein Habib.[3]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links

  • San Diego Union Tribune article about Marines in Al-Mahmoudiyah.
  • Map of Al-Mahmudiyah from multimap.com.
  • Army article about the Al-Buhaira Elementary School remodeling project in Mahmudiyah from March of 2006.
  • Stars and Stripes article from February 2006 by Andrew Tilghman about militia vs. militia violence in Al-Mahmudiyah.
  • A video from March 2006 (from Chris Brewer, who was in the Air Force in the 206th Broadcast Operations Detachment, American Forces Network) of Al-Mahmoudiyah's city center.
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