US troops open fire on rioting Iraqi prisoners, killing four News
US troops open fire on rioting Iraqi prisoners, killing four

[JURIST] US Central Command [official military website] said Monday that about 3000 Iraqi detainees held at the Camp Bucca detention facility [Knight Ridder report; Wikipedia article] in southern Iraq rioted shortly after Noon local time, and that the riot was only quelled after US troops opened fire. Four prisoners were killed and six others injured. A Central Command press release said that "the violence erupted after a routine search for contraband in one of the camp’s 10 compounds." Camp Bucca holds some 5300 detainees. The 2004 US Army Taguba Report [PDF] on abuses of Iraqi prisoners – including at least one reported incident at Camp Bucca for which four soldiers were charged – noted that the Camp was "significantly over [its] intended maximum capacity while the guard force is undermanned and under resourced." Bloomberg has more.