Iraqi prisoners faced numerous ?sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses? by US soldiers, including sodomy and beatings, according to a US Army report quoted by the New Yorker magazine.

The New Yorker said it had obtained a 53-page, internal US military report into alleged abuses at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad. In an article posted on its Web site Saturday, the magazine said the report had been authorized by Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top US officer in Iraq, and was completed in February.

The May 10 issue of the magazine goes on sale on today. The army report listed abuses such as ?breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees; ... beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair; threatening male detainees with rape; allowing a military police guard to stitch the wound of a detainee who was injured after being slammed against the wall in his cell; sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick.?

Written by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, the report said evidence included ?detailed witness statements and the discovery of extremely graphic photographic evidence.?

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman declined to comment on the article, but said, ?We take all reports of detainee abuse seriously and all allegations are thoroughly investigated.?

Investigation

He said that when incidents of abuse came to light earlier this year, the army immediately ordered an investigation, and Sanchez ordered a separate probe to ensure such incidents were not widespread in the military detention system in Iraq.

The deputy commander of the US Army?s intelligence force is heading an investigation into interrogation practices at the Iraqi prison, The Washington Post reported in yesterday?s edition.

News of the military report came days after photographs showing abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US troops were published and broadcast around the globe.

The photos showed US troops smiling, posing, laughing or giving the thumbs-up sign as naked, male Iraqi prisoners were stacked in a pyramid or positioned to simulate sex acts with one another.

President Bush said Friday he was deeply disgusted but only a ?few people? were to blame. He defended the conduct of the occupation forces as the White House tried to head off a backlash in Iraq and across the Arab world.

A British newspaper also published pictures that it said showed British soldiers apparently urinating on a shackled Iraqi prisoner of war. Prime minister Tony Blair said on Saturday that abuse of Iraqi prisoners was ?completely and totally unacceptable.?

But the BBC later quoted sources close to the regiment as saying aspects of the photographs did not ring true. They said the type of rifle and floppy hats pictured were not used by troops in Iraq, and the type of truck shown in the background had not been deployed there.

US officials said Thursday that the military was weighing disciplinary action against Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who was in charge of the Abu Ghraib prison, a centre of torture and executions under toppled president Saddam Hussein?s government.

Karpinski told The New York Times Saturday she was ?sickened? by the pictures and suspected those involved acted with the encouragement of intelligence units that ran the high-security cellblock where the abuses took place.

She said the cellblock had been under the tight control of a separate group of military intelligence officers who had so far avoided public blame.

The US military announced on March 20 it had brought criminal charges against six soldiers with the 800th Military Police Brigade, which could lead to court martial. The charges, stemming from a probe launched in January, relate to accusations of abuses carried out in November and December 2003 against around 20 detainees at the prison.

Charges included indecent acts with another person, maltreatment, battery, dereliction of duty and aggravated assault.

Reaction

Blair appalled by abuse photos, inquiry starts

• British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said yesterday a high level investigation was underway, but sources close to the regiment concerned raised doubts over the authenticity of the images. The ?Daily Mirror? newspaper published five black and white photographs Saturday of British troops who it said were kicking, stamping and urinating on a hooded Iraqi in Basra, southern Iraq, where Britain has around 7 500 soldiers. The newspaper said yesterday it had no doubts about the pictures? authenticity. ?We carried out our own checks and we are happy with them?, a spokeswoman said.

The images were published only days after pictures of American troops abusing Iraqi prisoners provoked anger and dismay around the world. ?There is a very high level investigation taking place. These allegations are being taken extremely seriously?, Straw told BBC Television. The Ministry of Defense said the photographs had been given to the military police?s Special Investigations Branch to begin an inquiry. ?The allegations are terrible,? Straw said.

The ?Daily Mirror? said it obtained the photographs from two unidentified soldiers in the Queen?s Lancashire Regiment.

?Let us wait and see what the investigation produces,? Straw said. The Sunday Telegraph said six junior officers of the regiment were being questioned at a British base in Cyprus and could be charged within 48 hours. The Ministry of Defense would not confirm that report. The images come at a difficult time for Blair, who is considering sending more troops to Iraq to plug the hole left by the withdrawal of Spanish soldiers. His staunch support for US policy in Iraq has been a hard sell to a skeptical British public. ?Let me make it quite clear that if these things have actually been done, they are completely and totally unacceptable. We went to Iraq to get rid of that sort of thing, not to do it,? Blair said Saturday.

?I think in fairness however, we should say that there are thousands of British troops in Iraq doing a very brave, extraordinary job on behalf of the Iraqi people and on behalf of our country to make the country better.? Britain?s top General, Sir Mike Jackson, said if the allegations were proven, ?the perpetrators are not fit to wear the queen?s uniform.? Human rights group Amnesty International said it had warned US and UK authorities in Iraq that captives were being abused. The British army is already investigating eight soldiers accused of abusing Iraqi prisoners, and the US army has brought criminal charges against six soldiers relating to abuses from November and December 2003 on 20 detainees.

Caroline Drees