A high level Iraqi official says the Iraqi Interior Ministry has launched an investigation into claims a police death squad has been operating in Iraq.
The probe was launched as police found the bodies of 10 more men who had been shot dead execution-style and dumped in three different areas of Baghdad's predominantly Shiite suburb of Shula.
Maj. Gen. Hussein Kamal, Iraq's deputy interior minister in charge of domestic intelligence, said the probe was launched following U.S. military claims that soldiers had detained 22 men wearing police uniforms who were about to kill a Sunni Arab man.
"We have been informed about this and the interior minister has formed an investigation committee to learn more about the Sunni person and those 22 men, particularly whether they work for the Interior Ministry or claim to belong to the ministry," Kamal told The Associated Press.
A U.S. general said American forces have found evidence of a death squad operating in Iraq's Interior Ministry, the Chicago Tribune reported on its Web site Wednesday evening.
A U.S. military official in Baghdad confirmed the report but declined to provide further details.
Maj. Gen. Joseph Peterson, who commands the civilian police training teams in Iraq, said the 22 men were employed by the Interior Ministry as highway patrol officers.
The bodies of Sunni Arabs, bound and gagged and shot in the head, have been turning up in Baghdad for months, fueling allegations of sectarian killings, which Sunni Arab leaders say often are carried out by Shiites in army or police uniforms.
In other recent developments:
Two car bombs hit Thursday in Baghdad ? one targeting a U.S. military patrol, which wound up instead killing six Iraqi civilians and wounding 11 others, and a second bomb targeting an Iraqi patrol. It killed a policeman and wounded three bystanders. Also Thursday, gunmen in Kirkuk killed an Iraqi Army captain and his driver as they were heading to work, and in the Amariyah section of Baghdad, a Jordanian Embassy driver was shot and wounded as he left his house. Australian Prime Minister John Howard says an Australian TV network would be justified in airing graphic images of abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison if they showed evidence of mistreatment that have not already been investigated. Howard at the same time suggests that if the photos depict acts that have already been exposed and prosecuted, there might be no reason to publish them. Officials in Iraq and the United States have expressed concern that the images released Wednesday by the Special Broadcasting Service's "Dateline" program could further inflame tensions in the Middle East, when public anger is already running high over footage of British soldiers beating youths in southern Iraq. British authorities Tuesday announced the arrest of three people linked to a videotape that appears to show British soldiers abusing Iraqi civilians. Britain's defense ministry says two soldiers are in custody, as well as a third soldier who shot the video more than two years ago. Two Iraqis who claim to have been beaten say they'll seek compensation from Britain. A warning of a possible terrorist attack against the United States, and an explanation of how Iraq hid its biological weapons from United Nations weapons inspectors. Comments from former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and one of his sons-in-law are contained on 12 hours of tapes obtained by ABC News. Saddam insists on the tape that his country would never launch such a terror attack against the U.S., but that it could happen. The Japanese newspaper Mainichi reports that Japan is in the final stage of talks with the United States and Britain over plans to start pulling its troops from Iraq next month and complete the withdrawal by the end of May. A National Guardsman who complained his unit in Iraq was in danger because of insufficient equipment returned to work this week in Kentucky, receiving a hero's welcome from a crowd of about 100 people who cheered as he cut the yellow ribbon put on a flag pole when he shipped out to Iraq two years ago. Staff Sgt. Brad Rogers, 34, a leasing manager in civilian life, wrote an e-mail last year to his co-workers in northern Kentucky complaining of inadequate armor and got a quick response from Kentucky Guard officials, who scrambled to improve protections for soldiers. A bomb exploded Wednesday on a central Baghdad street, killing four children - three of them siblings - as they walked to school. At least 15 other people, including six policemen, died in car bombings and shootings across the Iraqi capital. Police say the bomb exploded near a camera shop which also sold alcohol. The target is not unclear, but religious extremists often attack stories that sell alcohol or DVDs deemed pornographic. Saddam Hussein and three of his co-defendants announced in court Tuesday they had gone on a hunger strike. "For three days we have been holding a hunger strike protesting against your way of treating us - against you and your masters," the former Iraqi leader said. Their claims could not be independently confirmed. Investigative judge Raid Juhi did not deny the defendants were refusing food when asked about the strike after the day's three-hour session, but said "as you could see, the defendants are in good health." The trial was adjourned until Feb. 28.