Reuters staff say they were abused by US troops

Three Iraqis working for the Reuters news agency have claimed they were beaten, taunted and forced to put shoes in their mouths…

Three Iraqis working for the Reuters news agency have claimed they were beaten, taunted and forced to put shoes in their mouths during their detention at a military camp near the Iraqi city of Fallujah in January.

After being freed from their three day detention, the men told Reuters about their alleged ordeal, but only decided to make it public when the US military said there was no evidence of abuse, and news broke about the mistreatment of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.

All three men said they were beaten and forced to make demeaning gestures as soldiers laughed, taunted them and took photographs.

"The US investigation in this case remains totally unsatisfactory as far as we're concerned," Ms Susan Allsopp, a Reuters spokeswoman in London, said today.

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"We would urge them to re-evaluate the investigation in light of recent invents."

The trio said the abuse happened at Forward Operating Base Volturno, near Fallujah, after they were detained while covering the aftermath of the shooting down of a US helicopter near the Iraqi city. They were held at Volturno, then at Forward Operating Base St Mere, they said.

They were released without being charged.

The news agency claimed it received a letter dated March 5th from US Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez, commander of ground forces in Iraq, that he was confident the investigation had been "thorough and objective" and its findings were sound.

PA