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U.S. Troops Sweep Into Empty Insurgent Haven in Iraq
Soldiers from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment walk over the demolished front gate of a house to search for weapons and insurgents in Tall Afar. Forces expected a fierce fight in the Sarai area.
(Photos By Jacob Silberberg -- Associated Press)
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But each of the roughly 20 homes that Hanners' platoon searched -- many of which seemed ancient, with asymmetrical floors, slanted stone walls and tiny doors -- had been abandoned.
"That we had so little resistance shows the operation has been effective," Hanners said. "In that area, you normally wouldn't have lasted five minutes without getting shot up."
McMaster said the reconstruction of Tall Afar would begin soon after offensive operations were complete and insisted the city would not fall under insurgent control again. Already, $2.4 million in U.S. money has been allocated for infrastructure projects, but because of the violence, the military had been unable to persuade contractors to work here.
"They want this city to fail. They want Iraq to fail," McMaster said of the insurgents. "But the No. 1 priority is being met by this operation, which is to defeat the terrorists so they can no longer prevent reconstruction from happening."
In Baghdad on Saturday, Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari ordered Iraq's northern border crossing into Syria sealed after complaints that the neighboring country was not doing enough to stop crossings by foreign fighters. The order, read on Iraqi television by Interior Minister Bayan Jabr, closed the border to all transportation, except for vehicles with special permission from the Interior Ministry, and imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in the area.
Jabr said the closure was in effect under further notice.
About 30 miles south of Baghdad, meanwhile, police found the bodies of 18 men who had been handcuffed and shot to death in Iskandariyah, a town where dozens of killings have been reported in escalating vengeance killings by Shiite and Sunni death squads.
Baghdad International Airport reopened early Saturday after a day's closure in a payment dispute between the government and a British security company. Global Strategies Group said it agreed to resume security work after the government promised to pay half of what the company said it is owed.
