In 2006, during the Iraqi civil war, the largely middle- and upper-class and mixed Shia-Sunni neighborhood of Al-Adel was taken over by militants linked to Al-Qaeda, forcing many Shiite residents to leave.[1][2]
It was also the site of the kidnapping of journalist Jill Carroll in 2006, and of the residence of Adnan al-Dulaimi, a Sunni leader implicated in the kidnapping.[2] Many displaced residents were able to return in the years that followed.[2]
In 2007, Al-Adel Shopping Center became the site of large-scale gun fighting.[3]