Unprecedented violence targets Iraqi civilians: HRW

Unprecedented violence targets Iraqi civilians: HRW (administrative torture widespread)

NEW YORK (AFP) - Sectarian violence against civilians has surged in Iraq while abuse, torture and killing of detainees in official custody is commonplace, Human Rights Watch has said in its annual report.

"Civilians remained the primary victims of directed or indiscriminate attacks perpetrated by Sunni and Shia armed groups," HRW said of a conflict that had grown "increasingly sectarian in nature."

The group also pointed to "evidence of widespread torture and other ill-treatment of detainees in the custody of the Iraqi ministries of interior and defense."

Fueling suspicions of wrongdoing, the Iraqi government's own investigations "failed to lead to the arrest and prosecution of alleged suspects, despite mounting evidence," it said.

During a six-month span between December 2005 and May 2006, US and Iraqi inspectors "found consistent evidence of detainee abuse at most locations" during a check of eight government-run facilities in and around Baghdad.

At one interior ministry facility known as Site No. 4, "many of the 1,845 detainees displayed recent injuries consistent with severe beatings and electric shock."

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