Iraq army kills 14, sees Tal Afar raid ending

By Nameer Nouredeen

TAL AFAR, Iraq (Reuters) – The Iraqi army said it killed 14
insurgents and captured 35 on Tuesday as troops chased
militants down the narrow streets of the rebel northern town of
Tal Afar, on the fourth day of a major military assault.

The Iraqi army, backed up by U.S. troops, launched its
assault as Iraq’s President Jalal Talabani said Washington
could withdraw up to 50,000 troops by the end of the year as
the Iraqi army became a credible fighting force in its own
right.

Iraqi troops launched the assault against Sunni insurgents
on Saturday, risking further division in an already fragmented
society nearly a month ahead of a referendum on a controversial
constitution and the trial of ousted leader Saddam Hussein.

“Today we have captured 35 terrorists and killed 14,” Iraqi
Captain Mohammed Berwari told Reuters in Tal Afar, a mostly
ethnic Turkmen town near the Syrian border.

“Tal Afar is surrounded from all sides. Now the terrorists
are running and the Iraqi army is chasing after them down the
narrow streets. Operations will end soon and starting on
Thursday people will start returning to their houses.”

He said one Iraqi soldier was killed and five wounded by a
roadside bomb in Tal Afar on Tuesday, and the army had found a
large number of weapons caches, including 13 mortars and three
tonnes of munitions.

The United States and Iraq say Tal Afar is a staging-post
for arms and foreign fighters entering Iraq from Syria,
spreading across the country to join the Sunni Arab insurgency
against the Kurdish- and Shi’ite Muslim-led Iraqi government.

Iraq closed parts of the Syrian border on Sunday and on
Monday U.S. ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad warned that
“our patience is running out with Syria.”

TROOP WITHDRAWAL

Talabani, on a visit to Washington, has played up the fact
that Iraqi troops were leading the assault after a mass
training program by the U.S. military to build up the Iraqi
army. U.S. officials say over 190,000 Iraqi troops are now
battle-ready.

He told the Washington Post in an interview published on
Tuesday that Iraq was now ready to take over some duties
performed by U.S. troops.

“We think that America has the full right to move some
forces from Iraq to their country because I think we can
replace them (with) our forces,” Talabani said. “In my opinion,
at least from 40,000 to 50,000 American troops can be
(withdrawn) by the end of this year.”

A senior adviser to Talabani later said he had not intended
to suggest a specific timeline for withdrawal.

But Talabani had earlier told CNN in Washington: “It’s our
duty to sacrifice for our people and for our country,” in words
designed to ease pressure on President George W. Bush, who
faces increasing calls to withdraw U.S. troops.

Despite the talk of withdrawal, U.S. troops were active on
Tuesday, saying in a statement they had captured a “known
terrorist” and killing four others in a raid and an air strike
on a house in Haditha, 200 km (124 miles) west of Baghdad.

“The terrorist, known to have connections with senior
leaders of al Qaeda in Iraq, was captured at a safe house
without incident,” the statement said.

Tensions between Iraq’s three main communities, Shi’ites,
Sunni Arabs and ethnic Kurds were already high before the
attack on Tal Afar, fueled by Sunni Muslims fearing an erosion
of their influence after decades of dominating Iraqi society.

They fear that if the constitution is approved in a
referendum on October 15, Iraq could assume a federal structure
and Shi’ites could achieve greater autonomy like that already
enjoyed by the Kurds, further marginalising Sunni Arabs since
the ouster of Saddam, himself a Sunni.

Sunni Arab negotiators have asked the United Nations for
guarantees to ensure the referendum is fair, a member of the
Sunni delegation said on Tuesday.

Hussein al-Falluji said the delegation told the UN Special
Envoy to Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, that Sunni Arabs were frustrated,
and rejected the constitution in its present form.

“This constitution is built on federalism and we reject any
kind of federalism,” Falluji said.

Tensions are also high ahead of the trial of Saddam,
scheduled to start on October 19. He will be tried on a single
charge of mass killing at a village in reprisal for an
assassination attempt against him in 1982.

Government officials have suggested that if found guilty,
the courts could dispense with the need for further trials on
other charges, so potentially opening the way to his early
execution.

(Additional reporting by Mussab Al-Khairalla, Mariam
Karouny, Omar al-Ibadi, Sebastian Alison)