Battle of Samarra (2004)

Battle of Samara
Part of the Iraq War
Smoke rises from near the Golden Mosque during the battle of Samarra, 1 October 2004.
Date 1–3 October 2004 Location Samarra, Iraq Result Coalition victory
Belligerents
Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad Ba'ath Party loyalists[1]	United States  Iraq
Commanders and leaders
Haitham Shaker Badri Najam Takhi Nisani Hammadi Takhi Nisani Rafiq Rahmani Hadi Hussein Kaj Zaidan Mohammad Haji Hazim Mohammad Haji Husain Ali Muzaibar Ibrahim Abbas Harbouni Alaa Ibrahim Abbas	Adnan Thabit Lieutenant Colonel Fadhil Barwari
Units involved
Unknown	1st Infantry Division 2nd Brigade CT 25th Infantry Division 2nd Brigade CT 7th Iraqi Army Battalion 202nd Iraqi National Guard Battalion Iraqi 36th Commando Battalion
Strength
500-1,000 insurgents[2]	3,000 troops 2,000 security forces
Casualties and losses
127 killed 60 wounded 128 captured[3][4]	1 killed [5] 4 killed
20 civilians killed 61 civilians wounded[3]

The Battle of Samarra, also called Operation Baton Rouge, took place in 2004 during the Iraq War. The city of Samarra in central Iraq had fallen under the control of insurgents shortly after insurgents had seized control of Fallujah and Ramadi. In preparation for an offensive to retake Fallujah, on 1 October, 5,000 American and Iraqi troops assaulted Samarra and secured the city after three days of fighting.