BAGHDAD, September 10, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – While the government gave the go-ahead for an all-out assault on Tal Afar and threatened similar offensives against other towns, the mayor of the battered northern town branded the US-Iraqi onslaught as "a sectarian operation".

"The operation is targeting Sunni neighborhoods," Mohammad Rashid, who resigned his post protesting the offensive, was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"The problem is sectarian," said the mayor of the Sunni-populated town.

"It cannot be solved through military operations. It should be done through negotiations and cooperation with the leaders of Sunni and Shiite tribes."

US-backed Iraqi forces launched Saturday, September 10, a sweeping incursion, capping one week of raids, house-to-house searches and curfews.

Giving them the green light, Prime Minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari said the operation was meant to "remove all remaining terrorist elements" from the city.

US air strikes and bombardment have sent residents into panicky flight from the city, which is populated by a majority of Sunni Arabs and also Shiite Turkomans.

Some left for the nearby city of Mosul or ended up in a refugee camp on the city’s peripheries where they face serious shortages of clean water, food and medicine.

Residents trapped inside the battered city have been sending SOS to the international community and revealed in statements to IslamOnline.net over the phone appalling conditions.

"We tell our people in Ramadi, Samarra, Rawa and Qaem that we are coming," said Dulaimi. (Reuters)

Defense Minister Saadun Al-Dulaimi said Saturday that the US-backed troops killed 141 "insurgents" and arrested 197 others in Tal Afar.

"Their losses in the past two days include 141 killed and 197 arrested," he told a Baghdad press conference.

Five members of the Iraqi security forces were also killed and three others wounded, said the minister.

According to Al-Dulaimi, the joint military operation could be wrapped up "within three days".

US and Iraqi forces argue that Tal Afar is being used as a conduit for equipment and foreign fighters allegedly smuggled in from Syria.

In August of 2004, Tal Afar was the scene of a deadly US offensive that killed hundreds of its residents and displaced thousands.

The Iraqi defense minister said US and Iraqi forces would strike "insurgents" in four other northwestern towns.

"We tell our people in Ramadi, Samarra, Rawa and Qaem that we are coming," Dulaimi said.

"There will be no refuge for the terrorists, criminals and bloodsuckers."

Dulaimi gave no indication of when any operation might be unleashed in these towns.

Earlier in the month, US occupation troops launched a sweeping attack on the city of Al-Qaem, close to the Syrian border, killing at least 56 people in multiple air strikes.

"I say there is not a need for a huge number of American forces," said Talabani. (Reuters)

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said Friday, September 9, some American troops should remain in the country to scare off Iraq's neighbors.

"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," he said.

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who joined Talabani at a Pentagon press conference, said any discussions about future US military presence should await a new constitution and election of a new parliament.

The US army’s chief of staff said in August the army plans to keep the current number of soldiers in Iraq, estimated at some 140,000, for at least four more years.