Bombers kill 65 at two mosques in Iraq (AP) Updated: 2005-11-18 23:09
The government denies the militia allegations.
"I reject torture and I will punish those who perform torture," said Interior
Minister Bayn Jabr, a Shiite. "No one was beheaded, no one was killed."
He also said "those who are supporting terrorism are making the
exaggerations" about torture and that only seven detainees showed signs of
abuse.
The U.S. Embassy said Thursday that Iraqi authorities had given assurances
that they will investigate the conditions of detainees found Sunday night and
that the abuse of prisoners "will not be tolerated by either the Iraqi
government" or U.S.-led forces anywhere in the country.
U.S. officials have refused to say how many detainees showed signs of torture
and whether most were Sunnis, pending completion of an Iraqi investigation.
In another setback for sectarian reconciliation, the leader of Iraq's largest
Shiite political party will not attend an Arab League meeting this weekend in
Egypt, his spokesman said Friday. The 22-member Arab League has invited some 100
prominent Iraqis for the preliminary meeting ahead of a planned reconciliation
conference, probably to be held early next year in Iraq.
The head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq,
Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, will not attend, his party said. Instead, the delegation
will be headed by Sheik Humam Hammoudi, said the group's spokesman, Haitham
al-Husseini.
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