Mr Grimsdale
04-20-2004, 02:43 PM
Iraq jail attack kills 22 inmates (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3643151.stm)
A mortar attack on an Iraqi detention centre near Baghdad has left 22 inmates dead, the US military says.
All the casualties in the attack on the Baghdad Confinement Facility in Abu Ghraib were prisoners of the US-led coalition, officials said.
A further 92 prisoners were wounded in the attack when 12 mortar rounds hit the jail, they added.
The inmates were described as "security detainees" - people suspected of attacks on coalition forces.
More than 4,400 such people are being held in the prison.
The sprawling prison complex of Abu Ghraib, which covers more than one square km, was one of Iraq's biggest prisons under Saddam Hussein's regime and had a fearsome reputation.
It lies on the road to Falluja on the edge of the area known as the Sunni triangle, which has seen some of the fiercest resistance to the US-led occupation.
In other developments on Tuesday:
A US soldier died in a military hospital after being wounded in a bomb attack on his convoy in the northern city of Mosul, the US military said
The US company Halliburton confirmed that the bodies of three of its workers, missing in Iraq since 9 April, had been recovered west of Baghdad. A fourth body has not been identified
Civilians who had fled the fighting in the besieged city of Falluja began returning after US forces announced measures to end the military stand-off with Sunni insurgents.
The renewed violence near the capital came as the US redoubled its efforts to keep its international coalition of forces together, after Spain and Honduras decided to withdraw their troops.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said that over the past 24 hours, he had called the leader or the foreign minister of every country in the coalition.
He said he was getting solid support from the other members of the coalition for the American-led effort, and a series of commitments to finish the job.
The BBC's Jon Leyne in Washington says that despite Mr Powell's comments, it is not yet clear whether there will be any more defections.
He says it is reported that Poland may be considering withdrawing its contingent of nearly 2,500 troops when their current commitment ends in September.
A mortar attack on an Iraqi detention centre near Baghdad has left 22 inmates dead, the US military says.
All the casualties in the attack on the Baghdad Confinement Facility in Abu Ghraib were prisoners of the US-led coalition, officials said.
A further 92 prisoners were wounded in the attack when 12 mortar rounds hit the jail, they added.
The inmates were described as "security detainees" - people suspected of attacks on coalition forces.
More than 4,400 such people are being held in the prison.
The sprawling prison complex of Abu Ghraib, which covers more than one square km, was one of Iraq's biggest prisons under Saddam Hussein's regime and had a fearsome reputation.
It lies on the road to Falluja on the edge of the area known as the Sunni triangle, which has seen some of the fiercest resistance to the US-led occupation.
In other developments on Tuesday:
A US soldier died in a military hospital after being wounded in a bomb attack on his convoy in the northern city of Mosul, the US military said
The US company Halliburton confirmed that the bodies of three of its workers, missing in Iraq since 9 April, had been recovered west of Baghdad. A fourth body has not been identified
Civilians who had fled the fighting in the besieged city of Falluja began returning after US forces announced measures to end the military stand-off with Sunni insurgents.
The renewed violence near the capital came as the US redoubled its efforts to keep its international coalition of forces together, after Spain and Honduras decided to withdraw their troops.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said that over the past 24 hours, he had called the leader or the foreign minister of every country in the coalition.
He said he was getting solid support from the other members of the coalition for the American-led effort, and a series of commitments to finish the job.
The BBC's Jon Leyne in Washington says that despite Mr Powell's comments, it is not yet clear whether there will be any more defections.
He says it is reported that Poland may be considering withdrawing its contingent of nearly 2,500 troops when their current commitment ends in September.