Iraqi prisoners faced numerous "sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses" by US soldiers, including sodomy and beatings, according to a US Army report quoted by The New Yorker magazine.
The New Yorker said it had obtained a 53-page, internal US military report into alleged abuses at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad.
In an article posted on its Web site on Saturday, the magazine said the report had been authorized by Lieutenant-General Ricardo Sanchez, the top US officer in Iraq, and was completed in February.
The May 10 issue of the magazine goes on sale today.
The army report listed abuses such as "breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees; ... beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair; threatening male detainees with rape; allowing a military police guard to stitch the wound of a detainee who was injured after being slammed against the wall in his cell; sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick."
Written by Major-General Antonio Taguba, the report said evidence included "detailed witness statements and the discovery of extremely graphic photographic evidence."
Meanwhile, a British newspaper also published pictures that it said showed British soldiers apparently urinating on a shackled Iraqi prisoner of war. Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Saturday that abuse of Iraqi prisoners was "completely and totally unacceptable."
But the BBC later quoted sources close to the regiment as saying aspects of the photographs did not ring true. They said the type of rifle and floppy hats pictured were not used by troops in Iraq, and the type of truck shown in the background had not been deployed there.
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