Reply #7: Iraqi forces launch attack on Tal Afar

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Iraqi forces launch attack on Tal Afar
Sat Sep 10, 2005 4:15 PM BST


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By Nameer Nouredeen

TAL AFAR, Iraq (Reuters) - Thousands of Iraqi and U.S. troops launched an assault on the northern city of Tal Afar on Saturday to rid it of insurgents and Iraq's government said it planned attacks on rebels in four other towns.

"At 2 a.m. today (2300 BST), acting on my orders, Iraqi forces commenced an operation to remove all remaining terrorist elements from the city of Tal Afar," Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said in a statement, adding that U.S. forces, which bombed the town from the air overnight, were acting in support.

During the day, however, a dust storm hindered the offensive, officers in Tal Afar said.

Jaafari said the troops were responding to appeals for help from "all the different religious and ethnic elements in Tal Afar." The town, west of the northern city of Mosul and near the Syrian border, is mostly populated by ethnic Turkmen.

Hospital sources in Tal Afar said the assault started with U.S. air strikes on the centre, adding that there were U.S. tanks surrounding the area and gunfire was heard overnight.


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http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-09-10T151530Z_01_SCH022074_RTRUKOC_0_UK-IRAQ.xml