US soldiers found mass graves north of Baghdad next to a torture center where chains were attached to blood-spattered walls and a metal bed frame was still connected to an electrical shock system, the military said yesterday.
The grisly discoveries of the mass graves and torture center near Muqdadiyah, about 90km north of Baghdad, came during a Dec. 8 to Dec. 11 operation that also saw multiple battles between US troops and militants. The military said it killed 24 insurgents and detained 37 others during the operation.
The torture center, which the military said it thinks was run by al-Qaeda in Iraq, was found based on tips from local Iraqis. Graves containing 26 bodies were found nearby.
"We discovered several caches [of weapons], a torture facility that had chains, a bed -- an iron bed that was still connected to a battery -- knives and swords that were still covered in blood as we went in to go after the terrorists in that area," said Army Major General Mark Hertling, the top US commander in northern Iraq.
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