or allow transportation between the two locations. Before the siege of Baghdad began, Muhammad b. 'Abdallah sent five hundred infantry and cavalry to al-Nahrawan to defend it against the Turks. Later, another seven hundred soldiers were dispatched to the town to reinforce the first group. On March 19, nine days after Abu Ahmad had arrived in front of Baghdad, a force of Turks marched to al-Nahrawan challenge Muhammad's control of it. The defenders decided to meet the Turks on the field, and a battle ensued. The Turks soon gained the upper hand, and the defenders turned and fled to Baghdad. Fifty of the defenders had died in the battle, and the Turks sent their heads to Samarra, along with mounts and weapons that the defenders had abandoned. With the Turks victorious, they gained control of the Khorasan road, and traffic between there and Baghdad was cut off. When Muhammad learned of the defeat, he recalled troops stationed further down the road at Hamadan and ordered their return to Baghdad. Although Muhammad is not recorded as having made any attempts to retake al-Nahrawan, the town continued to suffer during the conflict. At some date after the battle, a group of Samarrans returning from deployment in the Jibal entered al-Nahrawan. For unstated reasons, the Samarran commander ordered his troops to plunder the town. The soldiers then began attacking the local residents, and most of the citizens were forced to flee. Al-Anbar and Qasr ibn Hubayrah Al-Anbar, lying on the Euphrates to the west of Baghdad, was a major town in the early Abbasid era. At the outbreak of hostilities, Muhammad b. 'Abdallah ordered its ruler to prepare for its defense. The canals and bridges around the town were cut, and the surrounding area was turned into a large swamp. By the middle of spring the commander of al-Anbar had raised a force of several thousand Bedouin recruits, and he sent a request to Muhammad for reinforcements. Muhammad promptly ordered over a thousand more cavalry and infantry to depart for the town. In Samarra, meanwhile, plans were developed to attack al-Anbar, and soon al-Mu'tazz sent a force of Turks and North Africans under Muhammad ibn Bugha to take the town. The defense at al-Anbar was split into two groups, with the reinforcements stationed outside the town and the Bedouins within. When the Samarran army arrived before al-Anbar, they caught the reinforcements by surprise