The city is located at 33°45' N, 44°38 E, some 50 km to the northeast of Baghdad, on the Diyala River, within Iraq's so-called Sunni Triangle. In 2002 it had an estimated population of some 280,000 people.
The site has been inhabited continuously since pre-Islamic times as a center for agriculture and commerce. It served as a waystation between Baghdad and Khorasan on the medieval Silk Road.
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