US forces rescued 41 Iraqi civilians Sunday from an al-Qaida hide-out northeast of Baghdad, including some who showed signs of torture and broken bones, a senior US official said.
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the top US military spokesman in Baghdad, said it was the largest number of detained Iraqis ever found in a single al-Qaida hide-out.
Details were incomplete, but Caldwell said some of the freed Iraqis were being transported to medical facilities for treatment of their injuries.