Washington: The US Army has suspended the General in charge of guards at the Abu Gharib prison in Iraq, four months after abuses of detainees were discovered to have taken place there.

Brigadier General Janis L Karpinski, who is currently on leave in the US, was indefinitely relieved of her command pending the outcome of the probe into treatment of prisoners at the Iraqi prison but American Army officials said the move should not be taken as punishment.

Army spokesman Colonel Pamela Hart confirmed the suspension and said Karpinski would be transferred to another Army reserve unit. Another officer will be named to take her command position temporarily, a media report said.

Karpinski, however, maintained that she was aware of the decision but had not yet received written notice of her suspension.

She said she was angry because she felt she had done nothing wrong and "I intend to fight it. I am not backing down from this", she told the 'Washington Post' newspaper.

"I suspect that they want to make a statement that all the officers who have been involved in Abu Ghraib have been suspended," she said.

"I'm angry because it just seems consistent with the rest of this unfairness. This is such a gross miscarriage of justice."

Karpinski and other officers in her brigade were faulted by US Army investigators for paying little attention to the prison's day-to-day operations and not taking action to discipline soldiers under their command.