Iraq's government opened an investigation today into a British-Iraqi raid on a police intelligence headquarters in southern Iraq.
The raid, which captured an alleged death squad leader and found 30 prisoners with signs of torture, took place yesterday at the National Iraqi Intelligence Agency building in Basra, 340 miles south-east of Baghdad.
Inside, troops discovered 30 prisoners, including one woman and two children, with signs of torture and abuse, the British military said.
More than 200 British troops were involved in the raid, along with an unknown number of Iraqi forces, the British military said. British and Iraqi forces stormed the building without warning, and "the method of entry . . . was appropriately robust," the statement said.
But Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri 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.
The prisoners were not intentionally released but escaped after the operation, the British military said.
Yesterday'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.
AP