US and Iraqi troops hunt insurgents in Iraq

Iraq moved to seal off its border with Syria yesterday and US and Iraqi troops hunted down rebels and foreign fighters they say have infiltrated a northern Iraqi town.

US and Iraqi authorities say the town of Tal Afar is being used as a conduit for equipment and men crossing illegally from Syria to fight the Shi'ite and Kurdish-led Iraqi government and occupying US forces.

US Major-General Rick Lynch told a Baghdad news conference the operation in Tal Afar would continue until all rebels and foreign fighters had been wiped out.

"We will continue to work away so we have covered every inch of Sarai, and then every inch of Tal Afar, until we've killed all the terrorists and foreign fighters there," he said.

Sarai is a district of Tal Afar where Mr Lynch said the insurgents were concentrated.

As part of the operation against the insurgents, Iraq closed its border with Syria yesterday and Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said he was imposing an overnight curfew in the north western region of Rabiah, on the main road from the border to the northern city of Mosul, near Tal Afar. Journalists kept on the outskirts of Tal Afar saw and heard little fighting yesterday and Iraqi defence officials said troops were in control of most of the town. Many residents have fled in recent months; thousands, forced to leave in recent days by Iraqi and US forces, were camped out close to Tal Afar.

Mr Lynch said the combined forces had been working actively to seek out insurgents.

"Operations continue. What we've done over the course of the last 24 hours is conduct specific patrols, cordon and search operations, checkpoints, to isolate the insurgents."

Defence Minister Saadoun Dulaimi said that after the assault, government forces were ready to strike insurgents in four other northwestern towns.

The government has played up the lead role taken by Iraqi forces in the Tal Afar assault, keen to show that its fledgling US-trained army is capable of carrying out such an operation. Previously such assaults have been led by US troops.