The United States is considering a military attack in the coming weeks against the town of Tal Afar in northern Iraq.
US and Iraqi troops have been battling insurgents in Tal Afar, west of the northern city of Mosul, for several days. A joint US-Iraqi military statement said they killed seven insurgents on Wednesday.
Many families have evacuated the town in recent days as violence increased.
The United States sees Tal Afar, near the Syrian border, as a conduit for foreign fighters and military equipment coming into Iraq to help insurgents fighting the occupying US forces and the Shia Muslim- and Kurdish- dominated Iraqi government.
The insurgents are mainly drawn from Iraq's third main community, Sunni Arabs, who account for some 20 per cent of the population and have dominated Iraqi politics for decades, under ousted leader Saddam Hussein and before.