The extended Shaykh-Lar family were among the hundreds of people who returned to their homes on Tuesday as soon as word spread that the US Army had lifted a two-week siege of this northern town. Residents return after days of fighting between US forces and insurgents. Officials have said 58 people were killed during the 12-day assault on the city of Tal Afar. 'Honest to God, we are still afraid,' said Mr Hussein Shaykh-Lar, 74, an ethnic Turk, as he and his four sons and their families unloaded their belongings from a truck outside their homes in the Qadissiyah neighbourhood. 'Will they bomb us again?' he asked.
| Depends -- you going to shoot at us again? |
American troops and Iraqi forces overran Tal Afar on Sunday - one of several Iraqi cities they said had fallen into the hands of insurgents - after a nearly two-week siege that forced tens of thousands of residents to flee and left several buildings in ruins. Although no US troops were visible in Tal Afar on Tuesday, their green armoured cars stood atop the low hills that surrounded the city of 250,000 predominantly ethnic Turks known as Turkman. Police vans patrolled the empty streets as people cautiously moved back into the town dotted by ravines and dense and dusty orchards of pomegranates, figs and berries. US commanders said they moved into Tal Afar at the behest of regional officials who lost control of the city. American intelligence believed it had become a haven for militants smuggling men and arms from across the Syrian border. Police commander Major General Mohammed al-Barhawy said all the 'resistance' had either been killed or had fled town, and that police had not apprehended any militants. |