Iraq condemns illegal police raid

BAGHDAD – Iraq’s government opened a probe yesterday into a British-Iraqi raid on a police intelligence headquarters in southern Iraq that captured an alleged death squad leader and found 30 prisoners with signs of torture.

The raid took place Sunday at the National Iraqi Intelligence Agency building in Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city 550 kilometres southeast of Baghdad. Inside, troops discovered 30 prisoners, including one woman and two children, with signs of torture and abuse, the British military said in a statement.It did not elaborate.An alleged death squad leader was captured along with four other suspected militiamen, Major David Gell, a British military spokesman, said yesterday.”They were suspected of serious criminal activity, including kidnap, torture, murder and involvement in roadside bomb attacks on multinational forces and civilians,” Gell said.It was unclear whether the suspects worked at the intelligence agency or had taken refuge there.More than 200 British troops were involved in the raid, along with an unknown number of Iraqi forces, Gell said.British and Iraqi forces stormed the building without warning, and “the method of entry …was appropriately robust,” the statement said.Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered an investigation into the raid and vowed to punish “those who carried out this illegal and irresponsible act,” his office said in a statement late Sunday.Yesterday, government officials were in Basra to begin an investigation, a spokesman said.”We have a committee that is in Basra now and it has started work to uncover the circumstances of the incident,” said Ali al-Dabbagh, a government spokesman.The prisoners were not intentionally released but escaped after the operation, the British military said.Sunday’s raid came a day after Iraqi commandos arrested a suspected militia leader, from whom they gleaned information that enabled them to carry out the operation, the statement said.In December, British forces raided another police station in Basra after receiving intelligence that a renegade Iraqi police unit might execute its prisoners.Nampa-APInside, troops discovered 30 prisoners, including one woman and two children, with signs of torture and abuse, the British military said in a statement.It did not elaborate.An alleged death squad leader was captured along with four other suspected militiamen, Major David Gell, a British military spokesman, said yesterday.”They were suspected of serious criminal activity, including kidnap, torture, murder and involvement in roadside bomb attacks on multinational forces and civilians,” Gell said.It was unclear whether the suspects worked at the intelligence agency or had taken refuge there.More than 200 British troops were involved in the raid, along with an unknown number of Iraqi forces, Gell said.British and Iraqi forces stormed the building without warning, and “the method of entry …was appropriately robust,” the statement said.Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered an investigation into the raid and vowed to punish “those who carried out this illegal and irresponsible act,” his office said in a statement late Sunday.Yesterday, government officials were in Basra to begin an investigation, a spokesman said.”We have a committee that is in Basra now and it has started work to uncover the circumstances of the incident,” said Ali al-Dabbagh, a government spokesman.The prisoners were not intentionally released but escaped after the operation, the British military said.Sunday’s raid came a day after Iraqi commandos arrested a suspected militia leader, from whom they gleaned information that enabled them to carry out the operation, the statement said.In December, British forces raided another police station in Basra after receiving intelligence that a renegade Iraqi police unit might execute its prisoners.Nampa-AP