BAGHDAD, September 6, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – A Fresh US and Iraqi offensive into the northern city of Tal Afar has sent 90 percent of its population into panicky flight, while the rest are sending impassioned SOS messages as they were trapped inside homes by imposed curfews.

"We went to the neighboring city of Mosul several days ago as the US offensive was preceded by power and phone outages, the signs of a looming large-scale operation," Abu Nabil told IslamOnline.net Tuesday, September 6.

"I’m deeply concerned at the fate of my relatives and other locals after the US-backed Iraqi troops isolated the city and prevented remaining residents from leaving."

His son Nabil, 24, added that US occupation troops made house-to-house searches and arrested dozens of locals.

The city, which is close to the Syrian borders, has been under fierce US bombing and fire since Sunday, September 4.

Before the bombing, US helicopters dropped leaflets demanding locals to leave the city for their lives, witnesses told Al-Quds press.

US-backed Iraqi troops afterwards razor-wired and shut down city entrances and exits.

On Sunday, the US military said that US F-16 jet fighters dropped two bombs on the city, destroying a mosque and killing at least seven people.

The US military said in a statement carried by Agence France-Presse (AFP) that helicopters returned fire on the "insurgents" in the mosque.

At least one US soldier has been killed so far in the offensive, when his military vehicle hit a roadside bomb, a US military spokeswoman told AFP.

On Monday, US fighter-bombers have bombed two Iraqi bridges on the Euphrates river in the western Al-Anbar province in a bid to disrupt "rebel" movements near the Syrian border, according to the US military.

Mosul Aid

The Sunni Islamic Party said its branch in Mosul, 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Tal Afar, Iraq's main northern city of Mosul, has received scores of Tal Afar people, estimated at 300,000.

It said it has set up an emergency operation room to provide makeshift shelters and aid to the refugees.

A party source told IOL that up to 200 families received aid and were accommodated.

Medics told Al-Quds Press that the Tal Afar hospital cannot cope with the growing number of injured as it badly lacks in doctors and medical stuff.

In August of 2004 Tal Afar was the scene of a deadly US offensive that killed hundreds of its residents and displaced thousands.

The Tal Afar offensive is timed with a similar operation in the western city of Al-Qaim, near the Syrian borders.

Last Tuesday, at least 56 Iraqis were killed in multiple US air strikes in the city.