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TAL AFAR, Iraq -- US and Iraqi forces on Tuesday carried out a house-to-house search for insurgents in the northern town of Tal Afar after rebels melted away in the face of a large-scale operation, the US military said. "The enemy no longer enjoys any kind of safe haven in the city ... or control of any part of [it], and is running from our forces," said Colonel H.B McMaster, commander of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. "They have abandoned their positions, trying to save themselves by hiding in houses and communities," he said, adding that troops were conducting house-to-house...

IRAQI troops had guerrillas on the run in the town of Tal Afar yesterday but the fight was not over in a big military offensive in which more than 200 insurgents have been killed, a senior US officer said. At a news conference with US President George W. Bush in Washington, President Jalal Talabani said that Iraq would not set a timetable for a US troop pullout, backing away from published comments that up to 50,000 could be withdrawn by the year-end. Iraqi troops, supported by U.S. forces, have taken the lead in the Tal Afar offensive against Sunni Muslim...

CAMP SYKES, Iraq (Army News Service, Sept. 13, 2005) – Scores of insurgents were reportedly killed, detained or fled from the town of Tal Afar Sept. 11 as Coalition forces launched an offensive into the city, located about 30 miles west of Mosul in northern Iraq. Now reconstruction and re-establishment of infrastructure in the city has been turned over to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment’s 401st Civil Affairs Battalion. The civil affairs Soldiers have already been working on short-term projects in Tal Afar, including school refurbishments, supplying food, road repair, fixing electrical problems, digging wells for drinking water and starting...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Army News Service, Sept. 13, 2005) – At least 119 suspected terrorists have been detained since Sept. 10 by Iraqi security forces and Coalition troops in northern Iraq as they continue operations to purge insurgents from the city of Tal Afar, about 30 miles west of Mosul. In a cordon and search Sept. 10, Coalition forces detained 41 individuals suspected of terrorist activity, officials said. Security forces also seized a mortar system with multiple rounds of ammunition and a cache consisting of hundreds of rounds of ammunition. “Operation Restoring Rights is being conducted to remove terrorists and foreign...

As the US and Iraqi forces continue their week long occupation in Tel Afer, an al-Qaeda linked organization has threatened for a chemical attack if the operation is not ended within 24 hours. An Internet notice from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi from the Iraqi division of al-Qaeda and other organizations like Ansar al-Sunnah said, “If the Tel Afer operation does not end in 24 hours, Ceyh al-Taif al-Mansura military office has decided to organize attacks towards important and strategic targets of the occupation and Iraqi forces using chemical weapons developed by the Mujaheeden.” Zarqawi condemned the occupation in Tel Afer and...

What's different about the Tal-Afar operation is that the Iraqi government is taking the lead. Iraq's prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, announced the start of the offensive in a statement yesterday morning. "At 2am today, acting on my orders, Iraqi forces commenced an operation to remove all remaining terrorist elements from the city of Tel Afar," he said. "These forces are operating with support from the Multinational Force." Tal-Afar, the area in which the operation is taking place, is located just east of the Sinjar Mountains (Jabal Sinjar), a prominent ridge along the Syrian border, and southwest of the mountainous border...

DUBAI (Reuters) - An Iraqi militant group has offered up to $100,000 for killing the prime minister and top officials who launched an offensive on rebels in a northern town, according to an Internet statement posted on Monday. The Islamic Army in Iraq, among several insurgent groups fighting U.S. troops and Iraqi forces, said Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari and the defense and interior ministers should die for the fighting in Tal Afar. "The leadership of the army has issued orders to all the mujahideen to intensify their attacks... to avenge the mass extermination occuring in Tal Afar," said the statement...

TAL AFAR, Iraq - Fighting eased on the second day of a sweep through Tal Afar - a militant stronghold near the Syrian border - as insurgents melted into the countryside, many escaping through a tunnel network they dug under the ancient city in the north of Iraq. Iraqi and US military officials vowed to expand the offensive. The 8,500-strong Iraqi-US force continued house-to-house searches on Sunday, and military leaders said the assault would push all along the Syrian frontier and in the Euphrates River valley. Cities and towns along the fabled river are bastions of the insurgency, a collection...

TAL AFAR, Iraq -- An audiotape posted on the Internet urges insurgent fighters in Iraq to prepare for a "final" battle. The recording is attributed to the al-Qaida leader in Iraq, Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi claims insurgents have inflicted casualties on allied troops in the Tal Afar battle.

Interior Minister Bayan Jabr said 48 insurgents were captured so far, along with mortar launchers and communications gear. He said Iraqi forces had suffered two wounded and no deaths. Defense Minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi said he expected the offense to last three days, and bitterly complained that Iraq's Arab neighbors had not done enough to stop the flow of foreign fighters. "I'm regret to say that instead of sending medicines to us, our Arab brothers are sending terrorists," al-Dulaimi told the news conference. In the past two days, he said 141 "terrorists" had been killed and 197 wounded. Five government soldiers...

September 11, 2005 -- TAL AFAR, Iraq — More than 5,000 Iraqi army and paramilitary troops backed by U.S. soldiers swept into this al Qaeda stronghold near the Syrian border yesterday, conducting house-to-house searches and battering down stone walls in the narrow, winding streets of the old city. Last night, Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari ordered the Rabiyah border crossing closed in an attempt to stanch the flow of terrorist fighters from Syria, about 60 miles from Tal Afar.

DUBAI (AFP) - An Al-Qaeda linked Sunni group in Iraq threatened to use chemical weapons against "occupation" and Iraqi forces unless they halt their offensive against rebels in the northern town of Tal Afar. "The military bureau of Jaish al-Taefa al-Mansura (Army of the Victorious Community) has decided to strike strategic and sensitive targets belonging to the (US) forces of occupation and apostates (Iraqi government forces) in Baghdad, with non-conventional and chemical weapons" unless the Tal Afar operation is called off, the Internet statement said Sunday. The Internet statement, whose authenticity could not be verified, said weapons "developed by the...

A voice recording attributed to Al-Qaeda's Iraq frontman Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and posted on the internet Sunday accused the US military of using chemical weapons in its assault on rebels in the northern town of Tal Afar. "O nation of Islam, your enemies are using more destructive weapons including poison gas against the inhabitants of Tal Afar," the voice said. Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari gave the go-ahead Friday for an all-out assault on Tal Afar by some 4,000 US and around 6,000 Iraqi troops after days of deadly clashes failed to dislodge insurgents from the town. The Iraqi Red...

BAGHDAD –– Iraqi and US troops pressed on Saturday with an all-out offensive to wrest control of a town from Sunni Arab insurgents, with the Iraqis reporting nearly 150 rebels killed and with the mayor resigning in protest. The fighting raged as Jordanian Prime Minister Adnan Badran arrived in Baghdad for talks with Iraqi officials after months of often strained relations between the two neighbours. Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said Friday he had given the go-ahead for a major assault on Tal Afar after days of deadly clashes failed to dislodge the rebels from the town. Fighting has been...

TAL AFAR, Iraq - U.S. and Iraqi troops swept into the insurgent stronghold of Tal Afar early Saturday, conducting house-to-house searches and battering down walls with armored vehicles in a second bid to clean the city of militant fighters. Some 30 miles south of Baghdad, meanwhile, police found the bodies of 18 men who had been handcuffed and shot to death in Iskandariya, a town where dozens of killings have been reported in escalating vengeance killings by Shiite Muslim and Sunni Aram "death squads." "Two days ago gunmen in police uniforms broke into their houses in a Shiite neighborhood of...

TAL AFAR, Iraq - A joint U.S.-Iraqi force punched deep into Tal Afar, a key insurgent staging ground near the Syrian border, and the Iraqi Army said yesterday it arrested 200 suspected militants in the sweep - three-quarters of them foreign fighters.... The U.S. military reported killing seven insurgents over the past two days amid growing indications the joint force was preparing to intensify the operation. The sweep in Tal Afar came as election officials tallied figures from three Sunni-dominated provinces, where the voter registration was extended a week in preparation for the Oct. 15 nationwide referendum on the new...

After cordoning off the Sarai neighborhood of Tal Afar, U.S. troops are waiting for residents to leave before executing the assault. The residents are refusing to leave. Ethnic Sunni Turkmens make up the majority of those living in the Sarai neighborhood, and they fear reprisals from the Shiite minority if they follow the proscribed evacuation route, which takes them south through the Shiite neighborhoods. U.S. troops are negotiating with the residents. United Press International's Pam Hess has some excellent background information on Tal Afar, including the mosaic of tribal and ethnic relationships in the city; "Tall' Afar is home to...

TAL AFAR,Iraq -- U.S. and Iraqi forces have encircled the insurgent stronghold of Tal Afar, and Iraqi authorities on Thursday announced the arrest of 200 suspected insurgents there _ most of them foreign fighters. The Iraqi military said 150 of those arrested Wednesday in this town near the Syrian border were Arabs from Syria, Sudan, Yemen and Jordan. The joint forces have reported heavy battles on the outskirts of the city and several deadly bombings that have mainly killed civilians. Iraqi authorities reported most of the civilian population had fled the city, which is 260 miles north of Baghdad and...

Iraqi and American forces had called citizens of Tall Afar to leave their houses because of an expected military operation in the city, as fighting continues with out reporting any casualties At the end of yesterday, a fire fight started at the west side of the city, but no report of casualties had been released Meantime, some reports said that 57 insurgents were killed during the fighting, as Apache attack helicopter circled the city all the day.

BAGHDAD - Iraqi and US troops, backed by helicopters and fighter aircraft, are battling insurgents in the restive northern town of Tal Afar, where at least 13 insurgents were killed Sunday, the US military said Monday. The casualties included seven insurgents killed by helicopter fire after opening up on the forces from inside a mosque. Soldiers conducting security operations in the town, 80 kilometres (50 miles) west of Iraq's main northern city of Mosul, were fired on in several separate incidents, but required air assistance to dislodge insurgents in the mosque, the military said in a statement. "Terrorists operating from...