WASHINGTON, Sept 14 (AFP) - The United States said Tuesday its military sought to minimise civilian casualties during an offensive on an Iraqi town that has raised protests from Turkey.
Turkey has threatened to end cooperation in Iraq because of the attack on the mainly ethnic Turkmen town of Tall Afar. The US military lifted its siege on the town Tuesday, five days after about 50 people were killed in fighting involving US forces.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher acknowledged that Turkey had raised concerns but said operations around Tall Afar "are aimed at eliminating terrorists, insurgents and foreign fighters who have been using the city as a transit point and as a safe haven for launching attacks elsewhere in Iraq."
Correspondents in the town said that Tall Afar was "a ghost town" on Tuesday, but Boucher said residents had fled because of the presence of insurgents as well as the fighting on Thursday.
"We have been working with the government of Turkey. We have been talking to the Iraqi interim government about the civilian population there, about how to conduct our operations in a way that doesn't cause trouble for the local civilian population."
Boucher said he understood from press reports that some residents were returning but he had no official information on conditions in the town.
"I'd just reiterate that we do work very closely with Turkey on a whole range of issues regarding Iraq," said Boucher. "Turkey's government has reiterated to us, and I think in public as well, that they want this cooperation to continue."
Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said Monday he had asked US Secretary of State Colin Powell to end fighting in the town. The State Department said the two spoke on Friday.
"We stated very clearly that if it continues, Turkey will end its partnership on all areas concerning Iraq," Turkey's Anatolia news agency quoted Gul as saying.
Gul condemned what he called "the excessive use of force against civilian populations" in the town that lies 75 kilometers (47 miles) from the Syrian border. The Turkish foreign ministry on Monday summoned US Ambassador Eric Edelman over Tall Afar.