BAGHDAD, 17 November 2005 — Five US Marines were killed yesterday in a gunbattle in far western Iraq during a US-Iraqi military sweep near the border with Syria, the US military said.
The Marines “were killed in action during a fire fight” yesterday in the town of New Ubaydi, the military said. “During the engagement, 16 enemy fighters were confirmed killed,” a statement said.
Ubaydi, a largely Sunni Arab town located on the Euphrates River some 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Syrian border, is separated into two main areas, Old and New Ubaydi.
Old Ubayid was cleared Monday, but fighting in New Ubaydi yesterday “left 16 Al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorists dead and resulted in a number of Coalition force casualties,” according to a separate statement.
Meanwhile, Sunni Arab politicians demanded an international investigation yesterday into allegations that Shiite militias linked to Iraq’s Interior Ministry tortured and abused prisoners in a secret Baghdad bunker.
The underground bunker, part of a fortified building near the ministry’s Baghdad compound, was discovered by US troops during a search on Sunday night in a development likely to fuel sectarian tensions ahead of Dec. 15 parliamentary elections.
Inside they found 173 malnourished and in some cases badly beaten men and teenagers, some of whom showed signs of having been tortured, Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said on Tuesday as he ordered an investigation into the chamber’s discovery.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday said he was “deeply concerned” about the reported abuse of a large number of detainees at a secret facility in Baghdad.
In a statement released by his press office, the UN chief also welcomed the announcement by Jaafari of an immediate probe into the scandal.
US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and Gen. George Casey, the head of the US-led military coalition in Iraq, said that detainee mistreatment was “totally unacceptable.” The two officials “discussed this case with the leaders of the Iraqi government at the highest levels,” the US Embassy said in a statement.
A Shiite militia suspected of involvement denied any ties to the facility, saying it was being blamed for political reasons and in an effort to discredit Shiites before elections.
Sunni politician Omar Hujail, of the Iraqi Islamic Party, said it was not the only place where Sunni Arabs were held and tortured. “We have been telling them for ages that there are people wearing the uniforms of the Interior Ministry raiding houses at night and arresting people but everybody denied it.”
