Wednesday, November 16 2005 10:08 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Baghdad: Iraq faced a fresh prison scandal yesterday (Nov 15, 2005) after Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari ordered an investigation into reports of abuse at a clandestine interior ministry detention facility.

The announcement came as 15 Iraqis, including 10 policemen and three soldiers, died in rebel attacks, a further sign of unabating violence exactly a month ahead of national elections.

US forces also announced the death of three marines in western Iraq where 80 insurgents have been killed over the past two days.

"I have received information relating to the presence of 173 Iraqi detainees at a centre run by the interior ministry, some of whom said they were badly fed or had been tortured," Jaafari told a news conference.

US forces raided an underground shelter at an interior ministry building Sunday evening (Nov 13, 2005) where they found 167 undocumented detainees, most of them Sunnis, according to a source close to the Government.

The Americans took the detainees to another holding facility and arrested police who had been guarding them, the source said.

US forces in Baghdad contacted by sources declined to comment on the incident.

The UN mission in Iraq on Monday (Nov 14, 2005) accused the interior ministry of maintaining hundreds of individuals in detention despite judicial orders for their release.

Sunni Arabs, who provide the backbone to the insurgency, have accused Shiite-led security agencies of engaging in torture and extra-judicial executions.