US and Iraqi troops hunt insurgents in Iraq town

By Nameer Nouredeen

TAL AFAR, Iraq, Sept 11 – Iraq moved to seal off its border
with Syria on Sunday and U.S. and Iraqi troops hunted down
rebels and foreign fighters they say have infiltrated a
northern Iraqi town.

U.S. and Iraqi authorities say the town of Tal Afar is
being used as a conduit for equipment and men crossing
illegally from Syria to fight the Shi’ite and Kurdish-led Iraqi
government and occupying U.S. forces.

U.S. Major-General Rick Lynch told a Baghdad news
conference the operation in Tal Afar would continue until all
rebels and foreign fighters had been wiped out.

“We will continue to work away so we have covered every
inch of Sarai, and then every inch of Tal Afar, until we’ve
killed all the terrorists and foreign fighters there,” he said.

Sarai is a district of Tal Afar where Lynch said the
insurgents were concentrated.

As part of the operation against the insurgents, Iraq
closed its border with Syria on Sunday and Prime Minister
Ibrahim Jaafari said he was imposing an overnight curfew in the
north western region of Rabiah, on the main road from the
border to the northern city of Mosul, near Tal Afar.

Journalists kept on the outskirts to Tal Afar saw and heard
little fighting on Sunday and Iraqi defense officials said
troops were in control of most of the town. Many residents have
fled in recent months; thousands, forced to leave in recent
days by Iraqi and U.S. forces, were camped out close to Tal
Afar.

Lynch said the combined forces had been working actively to
seek out insurgents.

“Operations continue. What we’ve done over the course of
the last 24 hours is conduct specific patrols, cordon and
search operations, checkpoints, to isolate the insurgents.”

Defense Minister Saadoun Dulaimi said that after the
assault, government forces were ready to strike insurgents in
four other northwestern towns.

PRECISION BOMBING

The government has played up the lead role taken by Iraqi
forces in the Tal Afar assault, keen to show that its fledgling
U.S.-trained army is capable of carrying out such an operation.
Previously such assaults have been led by U.S. troops.

However, Lynch’s remarks made it clear that U.S. forces
were closely involved. He showed video footage of a precision
bomb ,destroying a house which he called a safehouse, a meeting
place, and a planning facility. The house was obliterated and
Lynch said more than 40 “terrorists” had been inside.

U.S. officials say that 115 Iraqi battalions consisting of
more than 190,000 troops are now battle-ready after training by
the U.S. military.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani told CNN in Washington on
Sunday that Iraq had enough troops to take over front-line
duties from the United States.

“We want that American forces will be special guidance, not
to engage in daily work or operations,” he said. “We want
Americans to be far from the daily sacrificing. It’s our duty
to sacrifice for our people and for our country.”

Progress toward a fully sovereign Iraqi state has stuttered
over the summer amid wrangling over a constitution.
Expectations that a final text would be approved by parliament
on Sunday came to nought and negotiators said they would go on
talking.

The United Nations said that, with less than five weeks to
go until an October 15 referendum, it was anxious for
negotiations to conclude and printing to go ahead as soon as
possible.

Iraqi politicians said, however, they were anxious to win
over support from Sunni leaders to avoid the risk that they
might muster a blocking minority in the vote.

The U.S. military said Iraqi and Coalition Forces had
captured 211 terror suspects, killed 141 people it called
terrorists, and confiscated nine weapons caches since Aug 26.

Lynch said more than 60 civilians had been killed and more
than 190 wounded by insurgents in Tal Afar in the past six
months, adding that pleas from the civilian population were the
main motive for the current assault on the city.

Residents reported U.S. air strikes early on Saturday,
gunfire and an encirclement of U.S. armor in parts of the town
as Jaafari announced an offensive had begun.

The Iraqi government is facing a Sunni Arab insurgency
which it says is behind attacks on Iraqi police and soldiers
and U.S. troops on a daily basis across the country.

Dulaimi said that after the assault on Tal Afar, government
forces were ready to strike insurgents in four other towns,
Ramadi, Samarra, Rawa and Qaim, without saying when the attacks
may start.

Lynch said insurgents had built two tunnel complexes in
Sarai to help them escape Tal Afar in the event of an assault,
and that some were trying to get out in disguise.

“We’re finding terrorists now trying to blend in with the
innocent civilians, some of them dressed as females, putting on
wigs to get through the checkpoints,” he said.

“The rats know that we’re closing in on them, and they’re
trying to find a way to get out.”

(Additional reporting by Omar al-Ibadi, Aseel Kami and
Sebastian Alison in Baghdad)