Reuters reported today (read below) that Aides to the Shi'i cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Najaf accused British Troops in Amara of murdering prisoners from Sadr's Mehdi Army and mutilating their bodies, yesterday. Members of the Mehdi Army in Najaf buried 22 comrades, who they said died as a result of a battle with the British near the southern town of Amara Friday.

Al-Manar TV reported on May15 , 2004 that British troops captured 22 members of the Mahdi Army during a battle in Amara. Later in the day, they were brought to the hospital dead but with clear signs of torture and mutilation in their bodies. The eyewitness, Adel Al-Maliki, said some of them had poked eyes. Others had their hands cut off but most with signs of torture on their bodies.

Reuters reported yesterday (May15 ,2004 ) that a "British military spokesman said two British soldiers were wounded when their convoy came under attack and a second patrol racing to the rescue was ambushed by Iraqi fighters. " "About 20 were killed and 13 captured," he said. This gives evidence that British troops captured at least 13 Iraqi fighters, which supports the above story that the mutilation and torture signs happened to prisoners before killing them.

Residents said there was widespread anger at the British in Amara. British officers said they killed about 20 fighters on Friday when British occupation soldiers fought off a series of ambushes. A British defense ministry spokesman dismissed the accusations of maltreatment.

British newspapers quoted an unidentified military source as saying men from a Highland regiment fixed bayonets to charge Mehdi Army mortar positions in "fierce hand-to-hand fighting."


 http://www.aljazeerah.info/News%20archives/2004%20News%20archives/May/16n/British%20Troops%20in%20Amara%20Murder%2022%20Iraqi%20Prisoners,%20Mutilate%20Their%20Bodies.htm