TALL AFAR, Sept 10: A top religious leader on Friday accused the US-led occupation forces of waging genocide in Iraq, after air and ground assaults on suspected militant bases in Tall Afar and Fallujah killed 57 people.

As operations to rid the northern Tall Afar of "terrorists" continued, Sheikh Abdel Ghaffur al Samarrai told worshippers at Friday prayers the assault on the small mainly Shia Turkmen town qualified as genocide.

"What have residents of Fallujah and Tall Afar done to deserve these atrocities? The occupation forces are committing genocide," he said. "They came to Iraq to kill, destroy and strip its resources. Where is the UN Security Council?" Sheikh Ghaffur asked.

Calm returned to Tall Afar in the evening after a 13-hour air and ground assault the previous day that left 57 people dead. "These savage bombardments make no distinction between unarmed civilians and those equipped with weapons," Sheikh Salah al Jaburi said in the nearby northern city of Mosul, accusing the US troops of committing an "enormous" crime.

With the town sealed off since Thursday, dozens of residents, many of them women and children, have fled to a makeshift Iraqi Red Crescent camp. Only ambulances were allowed in and out, after passing first a US and then an Iraqi national guard checkpoint, while the military said operations "to establish security and eliminate terrorist activities" were continuing.

US commanders charge that the town is a key staging point for foreign fighters infiltrating on minor roads from the Syrian border to the west. In Ankara, Turkey urged Washington to halt urgently its "disproportionate" use of force and said the government was following events with "great concern".

Elsewhere, eight people were killed in a string of shootings, including three Lebanese in Baghdad, and a translator for the US military and former colonel in Saddam Hussein's army in Mosul.

In the guerilla bastion of Fallujah, a refuse collector also died clearing rubble when a US warplane fired a missile. The US military said its soldiers had destroyed "earth moving equipment" being used by guerillas to construct fighting positions.

ITALIAN HOSTAGES: Grappling with a second hostage crisis in weeks, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi held talks with Iraqi President Ghazi al Yawar in Rome, while his junior foreign minister pursued contacts in Jordan on a Middle East tour.

Mr Yawar vowed to do all he could to obtain the release of the two 29-year-olds as Muslim leaders in Rome recorded prayers on their behalf. Italian officials said they still could not confirm the authenticity of the internet statements in the name of the Ansar al Zawahiri group claiming to hold the two women, including the latest issuing a chilling ultimatum.

"The Italian government has 24 hours to reply to our demands, otherwise Italian people will never discover the fate of the Italian women hostages," kidnapped on Tuesday from their office, the purported statement said.

A spokesman said the Italian government was unable to comply with the demand even if it wanted to, as no women were being detained by the multinational force in southern Iraq, where Italian troops are based.

"At a time of new blackmail, it is obvious that the Italian government will not change track," Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told a weekly. Australia's prime minister also refused to withdraw troops from Iraq after Al Qaeda-linked militants threatened new attacks like the bombing of Canberra's embassy in Jakarta if he did not. "We will not have our foreign policy or our security policy determined by terrorist threats," said John Howard.

TURKEY'S PLEA: Turkey urged the United States on Friday to halt a drive against guerillas in the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar, saying many of its ethnic Turkmen kin were also being killed.

A Turkish Foreign Ministry statement said Turkey was very worried about civilian casualties. "We have asked the US authorities to stop the offensive in Tal Afar as soon as possible and avoid excessive and indiscriminate force," the statement said.

Turkey's military also said it was carefully watching developments in Tal Afar. Private television station CNN Turk quoted a US official as saying the offensive was not aimed at Turkmens, and would continue as long as it was deemed necessary.

Turkey regards northern Iraq as part of its sphere of influence, not only because of its close ethnic and linguistic links with the Turkmen minority but also because of the presence of large Kurdish populations on both sides of the border. -AFP/Reuters