Torture chamber found in Iraq

With bloodstained walls, chains hanging from a ceiling and swords on the killing floor, the dungeon left a disturbing tale of brutalities.

Villagers say they knew about the torment but were too intimidated by extremists to tell authorities until now.

The floor was littered with food wrappers, plastic drinks bottles and electric cables that led to a metal bed frame, presumably where detainees were shocked, according to the US account of the discovery during a December 8-11 mission.

The rooms “had chains, a bed – an iron bed that was still connected to a battery – knives and swords that were still covered in blood”, said US Army Major General Mark Hertling, the top US commander in northern Iraq.

Nearby were nine mass graves containing the remains of 26 people, he said.

Villagers knew about the torture site, but did not tell authorities as they were afraid of reprisals from the militants, a local policeman said.

He said he thought the chamber had been used for a year.

It was not the first such torture chamber discovered in Iraq. But it serves as a reminder of the extremist grip in parts of Iraq despite growing optimism as violence continues to fall.

And Diyala province – where the grisly discovery was made – remains one of the most volatile regions as US and Iraqi forces struggle to match the clear advances against extremists made in Baghdad and the western desert of Anbar.

The province is mixed between Sunnis and Shiites – often called a “little Iraq” and a remnant of Iraq before sectarian bloodletting partitioned many parts of the country along religious lines.

Diyala’s capital, Baqouba, is also the self-proclaimed seat of the insurgents’ caliphate.

“I think that is why al-Qaida wants that province so very much, because it is ’a little Iraq’,” Mr Hertling said. “It gives them access to Baghdad and it also … is considered their caliphate capital.”

American commanders say they are a long way from declaring victory in Diyala.

The weapons caches found during the Muqdadiyah raids included a surface-to-air missile launcher, sniper rifles, and 130 pounds (60 kilograms) of homemade explosives, Mr Hertling said.

“You know, there’s going to be continued spectacular attacks,” he said. “Are we confident we can protect it? As soon as I say, ’Yeah, we’re confident’, it’s going to blow tomorrow.”

It was not the first apparent torture site found after US forces moved into former extremist strongholds.

In March, US troops discovered a similar site in the village of Karmah just west of Baghdad that was used by Sunni insurgents for torture and summary executions. They rescued two Iraqi captives, who apparently had been spared immediate execution because the militants’ video camera broke and they wanted to film the killing.

The captives told US soldiers they had been sentenced to death by an insurgent court and had the choice of either beheading or a fatal gunshot.

Both Sunni insurgents and Shiite militia death squads regularly torture their captives before killing them – sometimes with power drills. Most of the hundreds of bodies that have turned up in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq show signs of torture.