US military plans surprise inspections of suspect Iraqi prisons

The US military plans unannounced inspections of suspected Iraqi jails to make sure prisoners are not being abused in secret Interior Ministry facilities, a top general said Friday.

A US-led raid last month freed about 170 mostly Sunni prisoners from an Interior Ministry jail in Baghdad where at least seven detainees had been tortured and others deprived of food, water and medical care.

Lieutenant General Martin Dempsey said US military intelligence was drawing up a list of potential sites to be inspected by US and Iraqi inspector general teams.

"And it's going to focus initially in and around Baghdad, of course, but I also think it will take a look more broadly than that," he told reporters here in a video-teleconference from Iraq.

He said intelligence reports are being analyzed for indications of secret facilities like the one uncovered in the November 13 raid. Possible sites will be added to the list for inspection, he said.

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