4 killed in Iraq prision riot

[Kenneth Brown]

No doubt Teddy 'Hiccup' Kennedy and his ilk will want a full scale investigation.<br />__________________________________________<br />U.S. troops fire on prison riot as 4 die<br />Allawi urges unity 'to build our future' after Iraq vote<br /><br />Monday, January 31, 2005 <br /><br />BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- American troops opened fire to put down a riot Monday at a prison camp in southern Iraq that left four inmates dead and six wounded, U.S. military officials said.<br /><br />The riot at Camp Bucca began after a search for unspecified contraband in one of 10 compounds in the camp, according to a U.S. military statement. <br /><br />The dead and wounded were the result both of gunfire and "violence by other detainees within the camp," the statement said, but no details were released.<br /><br />The U.S. military said guards opened fire about 45 minutes into the riot, when verbal warnings and nonlethal measures failed to subdue the rioters.<br /><br />"The facility's commander immediately deployed all available guards to the camp in an attempt to control the situation," the statement said.<br /><br />"The riot quickly spread to three additional compounds, with detainees throwing rocks and fashioning weapons from materials inside their living areas."<br /><br />The violence subsided after U.S. troops opened fire, the statement said. Three of the wounded were treated at the camp, and three others were taken to a military hospital for treatment.<br /><br />U.S. commanders said the names of those killed were being given to the Iraqi government and the Red Cross.<br /><br />The Army's Criminal Investigation Division has launched a probe into the riot, a move the Army said is routine in cases involving the deaths of prisoners.<br /><br />Camp Bucca, south of Basra near the Kuwait border, houses about 5,300 prisoners. More than 2,900 of those were housed in the compounds affected by the rioting, the military said.<br /><br />The camp was set up shortly after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 as a detention facility for Iraqi troops captured in the early stages of the war.<br /><br />A National Guard sergeant assigned there was reported to have died of "non-combat-related injuries" January 24.<br /><br />Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba's May 2004 report on abuses at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison also cited mistreatment at Camp Bucca.