Guns fall silent in second day of Iraq offensive

Fighting eased today on the second day of a sweep through a militant stronghold near the Syrian border as insurgents melted into the countryside - many escaping through a tunnel network they dug under the ancient city in the north of Iraq.

The 8,500-strong Iraqi-US force continued house-to-house searches in Tal Afar, and military leaders said the assault would push all along the Syrian frontier and in the Euphrates River valley.