JURIST - Paper Chase: US opens probe into detainee deaths in northern Iraq province

[JURIST] The US military on Friday said that the Army's Criminal Investigation Command [official website] will conduct an investigation [CENTCOM press release] into the deaths of three detainees in US custody in the Salahaddin province of Iraq, located north of Baghdad. The investigation into deaths, which occurred on or around May 9, results from reported suspicions from soldiers.

The investigation comes amid several probes into Iraqi civilian deaths at the hands of US forces. A continuing investigation into the death of 24 unarmed civilians in Haditha [JURIST news archive] after a roadside bomb exploded has thus far determined that the deaths were unprovoked [JURIST report]. In a separate investigation, seven Marines and a Navy corpsman [JURIST report] are accused of murder and conspiracy in the death of an Iraqi in Hamandiya [JURIST report] in April. The Marines allegedly dragged the unarmed man out of his home, shot him, and placed a rifle and shovel near his body to make him look like an insurgent burying a bomb. In yet another investigation, US soldiers have been cleared of wrongdoing in the death of 11 civilians in Ishaqi [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

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