Fighting in northern city displaces thousands

Fighting in the northern city of Tal Afar, thought to be a haven for foreign fighters, has displaced tens of thousands of people, aid agencies told IRIN on Tuesday. At least 40 people have been killed in the city, which has fallen under insurgent control and is considered a "no-go" area for US troops, according to news reports. The US Army says the city of 350,000 has become a haven for fighters crossing into Iraq from Syria. Iraqi Red Crescent (IRC) workers have set up 250 tents on the outskirts of the city to help the fleeing residents, Annas al-Azawi, director of the IRC, told IRIN. Many of the city's residents have moved into the tents, while others have moved to relatives' houses in nearby cities, he said. IRC workers have supplied the displaced residents in Tal Afar with water, blankets and medication, al-Azawi added, while continuing to work with other aid agencies in the northern city of Kirkuk to get more help for them. "These people were suffering - they had no electricity, no water, no medication," al-Azawi said. "We are asking for others to help us, including the Turkish Red Crescent, because the situation is very dangerous." But so far the uncertain situation in the city has held back some potential help from international organisations. International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) workers have not been to Tal Afar because of the poor security situation there, Ahmed Khalid al-Rawi, an ICRC spokesman, told IRIN. Some estimates suggest up to 100,000 people may have been displaced but a lack of clear information is making action difficult for aid agencies. "The UN community and the NGO community are holding emergency meetings," United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokeswoman Astrid van Genderen Stort told IRIN from the Jordanian capital Amman on Monday. "Maybe some of our stocks will get diverted. We will only get involved if it's a huge displacement of people." US troops have now surrounded the city, which makes it hard for civilians to get out and for aid workers to get in, the IRC's al-Azawi said. The organisation took a convoy of aid to Tal Afar on Monday but had trouble getting through. Also on Monday, Islamic Relief, a British-based aid agency, took trucks of medicine and supplies such as plastic sheeting and canned goods to serve some of the displaced families, Mohammed Makki, acting head of mission in Baghdad told IRIN. In the last few months, neither US forces nor Iraqi police have patrolled in many insurgent strongholds - such as the "Sunni Triangle" region northwest of Baghdad where pro-Saddam loyalists live. In recent weeks, they have changed their strategy, attacking suspected fighter safe houses in Fallujah, for example. US troops also surround Samarrah, to the north, which is seen as a transit point for foreign fighters, weapons and money. Fighting in the predominantly Turkmen city, 60 kilometres north of Mosul, has drawn the attention of the Turkish government, which on Friday called on US officials "not to harm the civilian population and avoid using excessive and non-selective force," according to the Turkish news agency Anatolia. Ankara took a step further on Monday when Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said Turkey would cease to cooperate with the US on Iraq if US troops continued their offensive on the city. Turkey has close ethnic and linguistic links with Iraq's Turkmens and sees the area as part of its sphere of influence. Shi'ite Muslim cleric Abdul Aziz al-Hakim also criticised the fighting, saying that whatever is going on in Tal Afar, has been under way since the fall of the former regime in May 2003. "Since the first day after Saddam Hussein's regime collapsed, Tal Afar had terrorist groups and this is not new," al-Hakim told Western journalists. "The new thing is that the military operations are huge," al-Hakim said.