nationals) when a rocket attack struck inside the Green Zone. On July 22, 2010, three Triple Canopy security guard contractors (two Ugandans and one Peruvian) were killed and 15 more wounded (including two U.S. soldiers were killed and 17 more wounded when a rocket or mortar attack struck inside the Green Zone.

' A high percentage of the rocket and mortar fire originated in Sadr City. The Green Zone was shelled with rocket and mortar fire almost daily from Easter 2008 until May 5, 2008, causing numerous civilian and military casualties As stated in a USA Today Article On April 12, 2007, a bomb went off in the Iraqi Parliament cafeteria, killing Mohammed Awad (a member of the Sunni National Dialogue Front) and injuring 22, including one of the vice presidents. In October 2004 it was hit by two suicide bombings, which destroyed the bazaar and the Green Zone Cafe. The Green Zone was frequently shelled by insurgents with mortars and rockets, though these attacks caused few casualties. The southern and eastern side of the zone is protected by the Tigris River – the only entrance to the zone from this side is the Arbataash Tamuz (July 14) Bridge (named for the date that the former regime came to power.) It is this security that made the Green Zone the safest area of Baghdad, and gave its name colloquially as 'the bubble'. The Green Zone was completely surrounded by high concrete blast walls, T-Walls and barbed wire fences with access only available through a handful of entry control points, all of which controlled by Coalition troops.

Additionally, a battalion of coalition soldiers from the Republic of Georgia also manned the entry checkpoints. They were typically a battalion of soldiers at FOB Prosperity, under the command of the Multi-National Division - Baghdad. Įntry to the Green Zone was under the control of a small garrison of American troops who manned the various checkpoints. There continue to be some five thousand of these Iraqis living in the Green Zone. They felt that since they were not Ba'athist, they had as much right to the vacated houses as the Coalition authorities. Among these were individuals who had lost their homes in the conflict, but most were urban poor who had been homeless or lived in slums before the war and saw moving into the abandoned houses as a sizable increase in their standard of living. The abandoned buildings were not only attractive to Coalition forces, but also to homeless Iraqis. Eventually some five thousand officials and civil contractors settled in the area. Jay Garner, head of the reconstruction team, set up his headquarters in the former Republican Palace other villas were taken by groups of government officials and private contractors. The Coalition Provisional Authority administrators who arrived on the heels of the forward invading forces decided they were ideal for use by Coalition administrators. Ĭoalition airstrikes at the outset of the fighting left a sizable number of buildings in central Baghdad abandoned. Some of the original inhabitants who did not flee continued to live in the area but many are also undocumented squatters referred to as the '215 Apartments'. Most of the remaining residents fled as US ground forces closed in on the Iraqi capital out of a fear of arrest by Coalition forces or possible reprisals by disgruntled Iraqis. In the lead-up to the US invasion of Iraq, Saddam and many high status residents of the area were evacuated because of the much anticipated heavy aerial bombardment of the area by US forces.

The area was taken by American military forces in April 2003 in some of the heaviest fighting during the capture of Baghdad. The area is also known as Karradat Mariam so named for a locally famous woman who helped the poor people of Baghdad. The largest of these was the Republican Palace that was President Saddam Hussein's primary seat of power.

The area was not originally home to the villas of government officials though it was the location of a number of military bases, government ministries, and presidential palaces inhabited by Saddam Hussein and his family. It was the administrative center for the Ba'ath Party. The Green Zone was a heavily fortified zone in the center of the Iraqi capital that served as the headquarters of successive Iraqi regimes.

Green zone