IRAQ: The Iraqi army has killed up to 200 insurgents in the northern town of Tal Afar, officials said yesterday.
The assault is causing dismay among some of the country's Sunni Arab minority, and comes just a month ahead of a vote on a constitution which is already dividing the country.
Iraqi prime minister Ibrahim Jaafari defied a $100,000 bounty placed on his head by a militant Islamic group and visited the scene of the insurgency.
The Iraqi army, backed by US troops, launched an assault early on Saturday against 350 to 500 insurgents in the town, which is near the Syrian border.
Iraq's third army brigade launched a fresh offensive yesterday, killing 40 insurgents and arresting 21 senior insurgent leaders in an operation ending at about 5.15pm local time, according to the brigade's media officer. "We also seized a cache of heavy weaponry, including mortars, artillery, explosives, TNT, ammunition and rocket-propelled grenades," he said.
Abdelaziz Jasim, the defence ministry official in charge of the operations, said they were nearly in control of western areas of the city. "Overall, 157 terrorists have been killed and 291 arrested since the beginning of the operations," he told a news briefing before the latest offensive took place.
A senior officer in Tal Afar, who gave his name as Col Khalaf, said: "We have cleared [ the central district of] Sarai totally and now we will clear other neighbourhoods."
He added: "Under our plan, by Thursday the city should be clear and safe."
On Sunday, Iraq closed part of its border with Syria. According to the US and Iraq, Tal Afar is a staging post for foreign fighters and military equipment on the way from Syria to cities across central Iraq.
Salih al-Mutlaq, spokesman of the National Dialogue Council - a largely Sunni political grouping - yesterday deplored the use of force. "Our vision for resolving such problems is by using political solutions, not military ones.
"We demand an immediate ceasefire and end to operations, to allow a political solution to this problem and to enable aid convoys to get in."
Mr Jasim said the Iraqi army had lost its first soldier in the fighting yesterday and added that six civilians had also died. He said the rebels were well-prepared for the assault. The army found 41 weapons caches and an "advanced medical treatment centre for their own casualties".
A previously unknown Islamist militant group has kidnapped a Lebanese man for supplying alcohol to the Iraqi and US military in Iraq, according to a videotape posted on the internet.
The hostage called on his Lebanese employers to leave Iraq to save his life. Although he identified himself, his name was not audible and no forms of identification were displayed in the videotape. - (Reuters)