IRAQ: U.S. FORCES RELEASE DOZENS OF PRISONERS FROM BAGHDAD'S ABU GHRAIB JAIL/ MORTAR ATTACKS KILL ONE CIVILIAN AND WOUND 6 OTHERS IN BASRA

Record ID: 647323

  • Title: IRAQ: U.S. FORCES RELEASE DOZENS OF PRISONERS FROM BAGHDAD'S ABU GHRAIB JAIL/ MORTAR ATTACKS KILL ONE CIVILIAN AND WOUND 6 OTHERS IN BASRA
  • Date: 5th July 2004
  • Summary: (U3) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JULY 5, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. BUS CARRYING PRISONERS ARRIVING AT AMIRIYA MILITARY BASE ESCORTED BY U.S. MILITARY VEHICLES 0.05 2. ANOTHER BUS ARRIVING AT BASE 0.11 3. PRISONERS GETTING OUT OF BUS WITH U.S. AND IRAQI SOLDIERS NEAR BUS 0.19 4. PRISONERS GETTING OUT OF BUS AND U.S. SOLDIER STANDING NEARBY 0.25 5. PRISONERS WALKING OUT OF MILITARY BASE NEAR BARBED WIRE BARRICADE (2 SHOTS) 0.37 6. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FREED PRISONER ABBAS MAHMOUD, SAYING: "I spent 42 days in prison, I cannot believe that I am free. Thank God. My feeling is the feeling of any freed detainee, a new life was opened to me." 0.46 7. PRISONER WALKING OUT OF MILITARY BASE 0.53 8. PRISONERS GETTING OUT OF MILITARY BASE GATE WITH IRAQI SOLDIERS (2 SHOTS) 1.00 (W3) BASRA, IRAQ (JULY 5, 2004) (REUTERS) 9. VARIOUS OF DAMAGED HOUSES AND SHRAPNEL (4 SHOTS) 1.14 10. VARIOUS DAMAGED INTERIOR ((5 SHOTS) 1.37 11. SCU/SV: BULLET HOLES IN WALL (2 SHOTS) 1.45 12. BLOOD ON THE FLOOR 1.49 13. MORE OF BULLET HOLES IN GROUND AND WALL (2 SHOTS) 1.59 14. TRACK: TRAIL OF BLOOD ALONG PATH 2.09 15. EXTERIOR OF HOUSE WITH BULLET-RIDDEN WALLS 2.14 16. VARIOUS WOUNDED CHILD AT BASRA HOSPITAL (6 SHOTS) 2.35 17. VARIOUS OF WOUNDED MAN (4 SHOTS) 2.48 18. WOUNDED BOY BEING FED BY MEDICAL PERSONNEL (3 SHOTS) 2.59 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 20th July 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BASRA AND BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA8Y0V1A8DIPPNJ3DZJ1XUC5OAI
  • Story Text: A number of Iraqi prisoners freed from Abu Ghraib,
    while one civilian is killed and six others injured in
    Basra attack.


    U.S. forces released dozens of prisoners on Monday
    (July 5) from the notorious prison of Abu Ghraib in West
    Baghdad.

    Witnesses said two buses carrying some 70 detainees
    freed from Abu Ghraib arrived early at Amiriya military
    base west of Baghdad, escorted with U.S. military vehicles.

    One of the freed prisoners expressed happiness at
    being freed.

    "I spent 42 days in prison, I can not believe that I
    am free. Thank God My feeling is the feeling of any freed
    detainee, a new life was opened to me," said Abbas Mahmoud.

    The U.S. forces have released hundreds of Iraqi
    prisoners over the past two months in accordance with a
    United States programme to reduce the number of inmates at
    detention centres.

    The photographs of smirking American soldiers
    tormenting naked detainees have rocked the U.S. military
    and prompted critics to argue that policies adopted in U.S.

    President George W. Bush's "war on terror" encouraged the
    cruelty.

    Seven U.S. soldiers have been charged with abusing
    detainees at Abu Ghraib, a 280-acre compound 20 miles west
    of Baghdad that first became notorious for torture and mass
    execution under the rule of President Saddam Hussein.

    Four houses were damaged in mortar attacks in the
    southern Iraqi port city of Basra late on Sunday (July 4),
    killing one civilian and wounding six others.

    Witnesses said that seven mortars, possibly targeting a
    nearby Basra Governor building and emergency police
    headquarters, missed their targets and landed at civilian
    houses.

    Among the wounded people are a woman and a one-year old
    child.

    One man said they were watching the final of the
    Euro-2004 when the mortars fell on their house.



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