CAIRO, September 8, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – In a new damning evaluation of the situation in Iraq, the UN mission (UNAMI) on Thursday, September 8, chided Iraqi troops over rights violations and an excessive use of force.

"There are serious allegations of extra-judicial executions taking place which underline a deterioration in the situation of law and order," said report, posted on UNAMI's Web site.

"Corpses appear regularly in and around Baghdad and other areas. Most bear signs of torture and appear to be victims of extrajudicial executions," it added.

The report cited the discovery of bodies of 36 men, blindfolded, handcuffed, bearing signs of torture and summarily executed, on 25 August.

"Families of the victims reported to the Human Rights Office that the men had been detained on 24 August in the Al Hurria district of Baghdad following an operation carried out by forces linked to the Ministry of Interior," said the UN.

On August 31, Adnan Al-Dulaimi, a senior Sunni leader, called for Interior Minister Bayan Baker Solagh’s dismissal, accusing security forces of responsibility for the murder of 37 Sunnis.

Addressing a press conference with US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, Al-Dulaimi said security forces were targeting Sunnis and killing them randomly.

The bodies, each killed with a bullet to the head, were dumped in a stream south of Baghdad.

On Monday, July 12, the Association of Muslim Scholars, the main Sunni religious authority in Iraq, has also accused US-trained Iraqi commandos of arresting and torturing eleven civilians for no reason other than being Sunnis.

It said ten of the detainees, all members of the Sunni Al-Zawbai tribe, suffocated to death after having been locked for hours in an airtight container.

The UN report also accused Iraqi forces of an excessive use of force.

"UNAMI received consistent reports of excessive use of force with regard to persons and property as well as mass arrests carried out by Iraqi police and special forces acting alone or in association with the MNF (Multi-National Forces)"

The report also spoke of "systematic use of torture during interrogations at police stations and within other premises belonging to the Ministry of Interior."

It stressed that mass detentions of persons without warrants "continue to be used in military operations by Iraqi police, special forces of the Ministry of Interior and by MNF".

The report said many detentions took place during July in Adhamiya neighborhood and that on many occasions the family of the detainees cannot find their relatives in any recognized detention facility.

The Iraqi government acknowledged on July 3 that some of its security elements had tortured prisoners in a bid to curb what it called a rising "Sunni insurgency."

Al-Dulaimi recently accused security forces of responsibility for the murder of 37 Sunnis.

The UN voiced concern about the displacement of Iraqi populations because of special operations in Al-Anbar province and Tal Afar.

On Monday, US fighter-bombers have bombed two Iraqi bridges on the Euphrates river in the western Al-Anbar province in a bid to disrupt “rebel” movements near the Syrian border, according to the US military.

Tal Afar, which is close to the Syrian borders, has been under fierce US bombing and fire since Sunday, September 4.

Before the bombing, US helicopters dropped leaflets demanding locals to leave the city for their lives, witnesses told Al-Quds press.

US-backed Iraqi troops afterwards razor-wired and shut down city entrances and exits.

On Sunday, the US military said that US F-16 jet fighters dropped two bombs on the city, destroying a mosque and killing at least seven people.

The UN report also reserved harsh criticism for Iraqi fighters accusing them of targeting civilians.

"The insurgency targeted innocent civilians including children, as well as police officers, politicians, foreign diplomats, human rights defenders and those associated with the MNF (Multi-National Forces) or perceived to be so," it said.

The UNAMI also voiced concern at the execution of three convicts, sentenced to death despite UN protests, and of public parading of suspected insurgents on state-run TV where they are shown to "confess" participation in violent crimes.

The report underlined that UN officials were holding meetings with Iraqi officials to make sure human rights violations were properly investigated.

UN training projects on human rights awareness would soon be launched across the country, it added.

"The United Nations is ready to assist the Iraqi authorities in ensuring that measures taken to combat terrorism and the insurgency comply with their obligations under international law," read the report.

The Observer revealed on Sunday, July 3, that British and American aid to Iraq's Police Service (IPS) is channeled to commando units infamous for committing serious human rights abuses against anti-occupation parties.

IPS officers told the British daily that ammunition, weapons and vehicles are being diverted to Iraqi paramilitary commando units (shock commandos), accused of torture and extra-judicial killings.

A January 25 report by Human Rights Watch revealed that Iraqis were tortured and abused at the hands of the former US-picked interim government of Iyad Allawi.

It documented how unlawful arrest, long-term incommunicado detention, torture and other ill-treatment of detainees - including children - by Iraqi authorities have become routine and commonplace.