| US, Iraqi Forces Attack Tal Afar, 150 Dead |
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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 the town mayor resigning in protest.
The fighting raged as Jordanian Prime Minister Adnan Badran arrived in Baghdad for talks with Iraqi officials after months of strained relations between the two neighbours.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said on 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 raging for more than a week in Tal Afar, a town between the main northern city of Mosul and the Syrian border that US commanders say has become a major staging post for foreign fighters infiltrating Iraq.
Iraqi Defence Minister Saadun al-Dulaimi said on Saturday that 141 insurgents had been killed and 197 captured in the previous two days.
Mr Jaafari insisted that the offensive was not aimed at any particular ethnic group in the town, which is divided between Sunni Arabs and Shia Turkmen, some of whom have fled the town in recent months complaining of persecution by the Sunni rebels.
Iraqi and US troops were acting on behalf of all the different religious and ethnic elements in Tal Afar and in response to their appeals for help, the Iraqi prime minister said.
“They (the rebels) have driven people from their homes. They want to deny the citizens of Tal Afar their future in a democratic and peaceful Iraq. We want to guarantee those rights. These operations are being conducted precisely for that purpose.”
BORDER CLOSED: In a related development, Iraq announced late Saturday night it will close a border crossing to Syria near the rebel bastion town of Tal Afar where a major counter-insurgency offensive is under way, the interior minister said.
“The government decided to close the Rabia border crossing to Syria, with the exception of vehicles authorised by the interior minister,” Bayan Baqer Sulagh said on Iraqia television.
He also forbade the carrying of weapons, banned the entry of foreigners and imposed an 8:00pm (0100 PST) to 6:00am curfew in a five-kilometre-long strip in the Rabia region to take effect on Sunday.
In Washington, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said that he hoped the US troop presence could be reduced to a few small bases within a couple of a years.
“I say there is not a need for a huge number of American forces. But I think there will be a need for two, three small bases for frightening others not to intervene in our internal affairs,” Talabani said at a press conference with US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
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