- BAGHDAD (AFP) - Nine bricklayers
detained by security forces on suspicion of involvement with Iraqi insurgents
suffocated to death while held for over 14 hours in a police van, an interior
ministry official said on Monday.
-
- Three other suspects, who survived the ordeal of being
locked up in the metallic van in the burning sun, were taken to hospital
Monday morning where they were to be interviewed by authorities who are
investigating the case, the official said.
-
- The incident started Sunday in the Ameriyah district
of western Baghdad when one of 12 bricklayers sustained gunshots during
a firefight between insurgents and police.
-
- His colleagues rushed him to a hospital in the Shuala
district where he was pronounced dead.
-
- Iraqi police commandos then arrived at the hospital where
they arrested the 11, along with one other man who was there accompanying
his pregnant wife.
-
- The suspects were taken to the commando headquarters
in the Jihad neighbourhood in western Baghdad where they were said to have
been beaten and locked in the police van from 11:00 am Sunday to 1:00 am
Monday.
-
- There have been numerous allegations of brutality, particularly
by police and special commandos, against detained insurgent suspects.
|
