U.S. Troops Report Finding More Torture Sites in Fallouja
U.S. troops have found nearly 20 sites used by insurgents to imprison, torture and kill hostages in Fallouja, a U.S. military officer said Sunday.
Marine Maj. Jim West said that in addition to weapons caches, troops clearing the city after a major U.S.-led offensive had found rooms containing knives and black hoods, “many of them blood-covered.”
Briefing reporters at a base outside Fallouja, West said one room had “handprints on the walls.... There was blood covering the entire wall and along the floorboard area.” He said troops had found signs of “torture, murder, very gruesome sights.”
“We found numerous houses where people were just chained to a wall for extended periods of time,” he added.
West did not provide more details, but said “a few less than 20” such sites had been found in the city, a stronghold for insurgents 35 miles west of Baghdad.
At least 34 foreign hostages have been killed by their captors in Iraq this year, including three Americans. Some of the victims have been beheaded.
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