Topic: U.S. commander cites discovery of `torture chambers'

Team Infidel

Media: The Associated Press
Byline:
Date: 08 September 2006


WASHINGTON_The senior commander of U.S. and Iraqi forces in northern Iraq
said Friday that a small number of "torture chambers" apparently used for
sectarian violence were discovered along the Diyala River.

Maj. Gen. Thomas R. Turner II, whose area of responsibility stretches from
the Iranian border north to Turkey and west to the Syrian border, told
reporters at the Defense Department that two or three small rooms were found
in May or June. He mentioned them as examples of sectarian strife that has
spread from Baghdad to other parts of Iraq.

"We do see that migration," he said when asked about a Pentagon report to
Congress last week that expressed concern that sectarian violence was
spreading beyond the Iraqi capital, where it is most intense and widespread.

Turner estimated that the torture chambers were about six feet (1.83 meters)
wide and six feet long. He did not cite their exact location. He said they
were along the Diyala River, which runs northeast of Baghdad toward the
Iranian border.

"What it included were places where shackles were attached to walls,
batteries, and other evidence of torture," he said.

Diyala province is predominantly Sunni, with a sizable population of Shiites
as well as Kurds.

Turner spoke by video teleconference from his headquarters at Tikrit.

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