On September 2nd, 2005, the US launched the largest military offensive on an urban area since the attack on Fallujah in the ethnic Turkish city of Tal Afar in Northern Iraq. The mayor of Tal Afar resigned in protest of what he called a "sectarian" operation" and a local Turkmen leader claimed that 152 civilians had been killed by "indiscriminate" fire coming from US helicopter gunships. By September 6th, 2005, 90 percent of Tal Afar's population of 250,000 had fled in the face of the US assualt. The offensive in Tal Afar continued for several weeks even though most insurgents melted into the countryside at the start of the conflict, many escaping through a tunnel network dug under an ancient northern city.

On Wednesday September 14th, over 150 people died in a deadly series of bomb attacks and shootings across Iraq. Attacks continued on Thursday, killing at least 30 people. In the first attack, a suicide bomber rammed his car into a police patrol in Baghdad, killing at least 16 members of an elite unit.

Tal Afar Stormed : Threat of Ethnic Cleansing Grows in Iraq | US forces tighten grip on Tal Afar