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Tal Afar Panicking Residents Flee US Fire
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A
library photo of an Iraqi family returning to Tal Afar after a US
offensive.
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Additional
Reporting By Mazen Ghazi, IOL Staff
BAGHDAD,
September 6, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – A Fresh US
and Iraqi offensive into the northern city of Tal Afar has sent 90
percent of its population into panicky flight, while the rest are
sending impassioned SOS messages as they were trapped inside homes by
imposed curfews.
“We
went to the neighboring city of Mosul several days ago as the US
offensive was preceded by power and phone outages, the signs of a
looming large-scale operation,” Abu Nabil told IslamOnline.net
Tuesday, September 6.
“I’m
deeply concerned at the fate of my relatives and other locals after
the US-backed Iraqi troops isolated the city and prevented remaining
residents from leaving.”
His
son Nabil, 24, added that US occupation troops made house-to-house
searches and arrested dozens of locals.
The
city, which is close to the Syrian borders, has been under fierce US
bombing and fire since Sunday, September 4.
Before
the bombing, US helicopters dropped leaflets demanding locals to leave
the city for their lives, witnesses told Al-Quds press.
US-backed
Iraqi troops afterwards razor-wired and shut down city entrances and
exits.
On
Sunday, the US military said that US F-16 jet fighters dropped two
bombs on the city, destroying a mosque and killing at least seven
people.
The
US military said in a statement carried by Agence France-Presse (AFP)
that helicopters returned fire on the “insurgents” in the mosque.
At
least one US soldier has been killed so far in the offensive, when his
military vehicle hit a roadside bomb, a US military spokeswoman told
AFP.
On
Monday, US fighter-bombers have bombed two Iraqi bridges on the
Euphrates river in the western Al-Anbar province in a bid to disrupt
“rebel” movements near the Syrian border, according to the US
military.
Mosul
Aid
The
Sunni Islamic Party said its branch in Mosul, 80 kilometers (50 miles)
from Tal Afar, Iraq's main northern city of Mosul, has received scores
of Tal Afar people, estimated at 300,000.
It
said it has set up an emergency operation room to provide makeshift
shelters and aid to the refugees.
A
party source told IOL that up to 200 families received aid and were
accommodated.
Medics
told Al-Quds Press that the Tal Afar hospital cannot cope with the
growing number of injured as it badly lacks in doctors and medical
stuff.
In
August of 2004 Tal Afar was the scene of a deadly US offensive that
killed hundreds of its residents and displaced thousands.
The
Tal Afar offensive is timed with a similar operation in the western
city of Al-Qaim, near the Syrian borders.
Last
Tuesday, at least 56 Iraqis were killed in multiple US air strikes in
the city.
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