TAL AFAR, Sept 11: Iraq moved to seal off its border with Syria on Sunday as US-led forces hunted down ‘foreign Fighters’ they say have infiltrated a northern Iraqi town. Iraqi and US authorities say the town of Tal Afar is being used as a conduit for equipment and men crossing illegally from Syria to fight the Shia and Kurdish-led Iraqi government and occupying US forces.

Maj-Gen Rick Lynch of the US Army told a Baghdad news conference the operation in Tal Afar would continue until all guerillas 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.

As part of the operation against the guerillas, Iraq closed its border with Syria on Sunday and Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said he was imposing an overnight curfew in the northwestern region of Rabiah, on the main road from the border to the northern city of Mosul, near Tal Afar.

Journalists kept on the outskirts ot Tal Afar saw and heard little fighting on Sunday and Iraqi defence officials said troops were in control of most of the town. Many residents have fled in recent months; thousands were camped out close to Tal Afar.

Gen Lynch said the combined forces had been working actively to seek out guerillas.

“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 at guerillas in four other northwestern towns.—AFP