Abu Ghraib prisoners riot

2009-09-11 15:31

Baghdad - A fire broke out in Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib prison on Friday after inmates clashed repeatedly through the night with warders engaged on a search operation, officials and witnesses said.

"A fire was declared on Friday afternoon following clashes between prisoners and warders carrying out a search for banned substances and weapons," a prison officer told AFP.

He said there had been casualties in the clashes and that police reinforcements had been sent to the prison.

Human rights ministry adviser Kamel Hamza told AFP that no deaths had been reported for far.

"They were searching for banned substances... particularly tranquillisers," Hamza said.

Witnesses said that the violence first erupted on Thursday afternoon and that shots had been heard from inside the prison.

The jail on the western outskirts of the capital was reopened in February after being renamed Baghdad Central Prison.

It earned notoriety both under the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein and under the US-led occupation that followed the 2003 invasion to oust him.

In Saddam's day it was a major centre for torture and execution with an estimated 4 000 detainees losing their lives there.

In 2004, photographs surfaced showing naked and hooded prisoners being beaten bloody by their US guards and made to commit humiliating acts such as simulated homosexual intercourse.

In 2006, US President George W Bush admitted the scandal was the biggest blunder Washington had made in its entire campaign, and the facility was closed and handed over to Iraqi control.

- SAPA