Government of Iraq

The Karkh security district is located in the heart of Baghdad; a significant portion of the district is occupied by the International Zone, also known as the Green Zone, site of the U.S. Embassy. Karkh is perhaps best known for the main road, Haifa Street, which runs from the International Zone northwest to the neighborhood of Sheikh Ma’arouf and Kadhimiyah.

The Mansour security district is located in western Baghdad stretching from the Abu Ghraib area and the airport east to Karkh. Bounded by the Shi’a-dominated Kadhimiyah to the north and Rashid to the south, Mansour is overwhelmingly Sunni, with a few mixed areas remaining in Yarmouk in the southeast.

The Karadah security district is located in central Baghdad, on the southeastern bank of the Tigris River. To the north and northeast, Karadah neighbors the districts of Rusafa and 9 Nissan, respectively. Opposite the Tigris, the Karadah peninsula neighbors the Karkh district to the north and the Rasheed district to the south.

The 9 Nissan security district, also referred to as Tissa Nissan or New Baghdad, is located in eastern Baghdad. The Diyala River runs along 9 Nissan’s eastern border. On its southwestern edge, 9 Nissan borders the Karadah and Rusafa security districts.

Sadr City, a sprawling slum in northeastern Baghdad, is home to over 2 million Iraqis and has the largest Shi’a population in Baghdad. Sadr City was built in 1959 and unofficially named for Ayatollah Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr, the highly-revered Shi’a cleric who was assassinated by the Saddam Hussein’s regime in 1999. Sadr City presents one of the biggest security challenges for U.S. forces in Baghdad.

The northeastern belt runs from the Tarmiyah area in the Tigris River Valley, east through Khalis and Baqubah and south to Nahrawan east of Baghdad. It controls the road networks that link Baghdad with the eastern shore of the Tigris River Valley, as well the Diyala River Valley and a key border crossing with Iran. Consequently, both al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), Jaysh al-Mahdi, and associated Iranian-backed Special Groups have competed to control the area.

Baghdad Security Districts: