US-led assaults on resistance fighters in Tall Afar and Fallujah killed at least 57 people, prompting top Muslim clerics to accuse the US-led coalition of genocide in Iraq. As US-led operations to rid Tall Afar of "terrorists" continued, Sheikh Abdel Ghaffur al-Samarrai told worshippers the assault on the small northern town qualified as genocide. "What have the 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?" the leading cleric asked. Calm returned to Tall Afar Friday after a 13-hour air and ground assault the previous day, which medics said left 45 people dead and that US commanders said killed up to 57 "terrorists." "These savage bombardments make no distinction between unarmed civilians and those equipped with weapons," Sheikh Salah al-Jaburi said in the nearby city of Mosul, accusing the US-led coalition 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. **PHOTO CAPTION*** An Iraqi holds the body of a baby recovered from the rubble of a home in Fallujah destroyed in an air strike. (AFP)