TAL AFAR, Iraq, 13 September 2005 — Iraq’s prime minister toured the ex-insurgent stronghold of Tal Afar yesterday as security forces rounded up over 300 rebels who failed to make their escape from a 10,000-strong Iraqi and US assault.

Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari visited the northern town of Tal Afar on a road to Syria “to show his defiance of the terrorists,” Interior Minister Bayran Baker Solagh said.

Jaafari authorized the operation on Tal Afar on Friday after days of deadly clashes failed to dislodge rebels.

Responding to Internet pledges by Al-Qaeda linked groups to launch deadly revenge — including chemical — attacks over the Tal Afar assault, Solagh said they had “lost their senses.” In a series of Internet postings Sunday whose authenticity could not be verified, insurgents promised retaliation and offered rewards for killing top Iraqi officials.

One site contained a voice recording attributed to Al-Qaeda’s Iraq frontman Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi that accused the US military of using chemical weapons in the assault, while another Al-Qaeda-linked group threatened to retaliate against US forces with chemical weapons.

Iraqi and US troops continued to search the town, but it appeared that many insurgents had melted away after initially resisting.

“A majority of terrorists left the town without fighting,” according to Interior Ministry commando Gen. Adnan Sabet.

The Defense Ministry’s Gen. Adel Azis Mohammed said that “a total of 157 terrorists had been killed over the past 24 hours,” while over 300 people had been arrested and 24 weapons caches discovered.

One member of the Iraqi forces was killed and “five to six” civilians also died in fighting over the same period, Mohammed added, although more detailed civilian casualty figures were unavailable.

US Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, deputy chief of staff for coalition forces, said his soldiers had uncovered two tunnel complexes in the Saray district of town which he described as “rat lines,” allowing rebels to escape.

“We’re finding that terrorists are now trying to blend with civilians, with some dressed as women wearing wigs,” he told a news conference.

But Tal Afar, located between Mosul and the Syrian border, “is just one piece of an overarching operation,” he said. “We’re not going to tolerate a safe haven for terrorists anywhere in Iraq.”

US patrols roamed the empty streets of the neighborhoods of Saray and Kadissiyah, searching for any remaining insurgents who had been virtually in control of the town for months. Inhabitants were told to leave before the all-out offensive started. The men who stayed behind faced arrest.

Officials said some 8,500 people had been displaced and were being looked after in tent camps set up nearby. Seven field hospitals had also been erected and 20 trucks loaded with emergency relief had arrived in the town.

In the southern city of Basra, a Western diplomatic mission came under rebel attack but no one was harmed.

Overnight Sunday to yesterday, rebels launched a rocket attack on the US-British diplomatic compound.

Four 107mm Chinese-built rockets slammed into ousted dictator Saddam Hussein’s former Basra palace which houses both the US and the British consulates, a Western diplomat said.

“There were no casualties or injuries, and no significant structural damage,” according to the US Embassy.