UK-backed raid uncovering torture victims probed

Iraq's government opened a probe Monday into a British-Iraqi raid on a police intelligence headquarters in southern Iraq that captured an alleged death squad leader and found 30 prisoners with signs of torture. The raid took place Sunday at the National Iraqi Intelligence Agency building in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city 550 kilometers southeast of Baghdad. Inside, troops discovered 30 prisoners, including one woman and two children, with signs of torture and abuse, the British military said in a statement. It did not elaborate. An alleged death squad leader was captured along with four other suspected militiamen, Maj. David Gell, a British military spokesman, said Monday.