About 10,000 US and Iraqi troops are hunting rebels and foreign fighters in Tal Afar, a city of 200,000 near the Syrian border. Mr Jaafari said on Friday he had given the go-ahead for the assault after days of deadly clashes failed to dislodge the rebels. Inhabitants were told to leave before the all-out offensive started. The men who remained behind faced arrest.
On Sunday, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, accused the US army of using poison gas on the town to "finish off the mujahideen". A third Al Qaeda-linked group threatened to retaliate against US forces with chemical weapons. An Internet statement posted in the name of the Jaish al-Taefa al-Mansura, or Army of the Victorious Community, warned of reprisal attacks using "non-conventional and chemical weapons ... developed by the mujahedeen ... unless the armed onslaught against the city of Tal Afar stops within 24 hours".