Graphic photographs of injuries allegedly suffered by detainees in Iraqi custody surfaced today as the government in Baghdad attempted to dismiss international criticism over a secret torture prison.

The images, released by the Sunni Committee of Muslim Scholars (CMS), show men - alleged to be former police officers taken captive by Shia commandos - with bruises and welts covering their bodies. The skin on one man's arm is seared to the flesh.

The publication of the disturbing photographs follows the discovery on Sunday of 173 men and teenage boys in a secret prison beneath a government building. Some of the inmates were reportedly tortured, beaten and starved.

John Reid, the Defence Secretary, described the abuse as "totally unacceptable", Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations, said that he was "deeply concerned", and the European Union foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said it would "not help" stabilise the country.

The Iraq Government today responded with defiance to calls, led by members of the Sunni Arab community, for an international inquiry.

The Interior Minister, Bayan Baqer Solagh, a Shia Muslim with links to the Iran-backed Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), said claims that detainees were mistreated had been exaggerated. He said that only seven of the men in the dungeon showed signs of being beaten.

Raising his voice in anger, he told a press conference: "I don’t accept for any officer to even slap a prisoner."

Mr Solagh also denied suggestions that the detention facility was operating in secret. He said that the prison, in the basement of an Interior Ministry building, was well-known and insisted that all of those inside were dangerous terrorists.

He said: "This is not true and is unfounded. I want everyone who makes irresponsible statements to know I will file lawsuits against them. These are only rumours; this is not a prison or a detention camp."

Animated, and waving a stack of passports, he said that all 173 inmates had been legally detained. He countered claims that they were all Sunni Arabs by saying that a Shia man responsible for four car bombings which killed 66 people was among the prisoners.

Mohammad Duham, the head of a group that works to protect prisoners and detainees, told Reuters that "torture implements" had been found in the bunker, including saws to cut limbs.

"This is unacceptable and claims we used things to carve people’s limbs are absurd," Mr Solagh said.

The Iraqi Government has agreed to an internal inquiry into the discovery of the bunker dungeon, but opposition figures have called for the intervention of the United Nations, saying that the administration can not be trusted.

Sunnis have blamed death squads made up of SCIRI's Badr militias and the American-trained Wolf Brigade for carrying out a series of secret arrests and the unlawful murders of at least six clerics in the past few months.

Jim Bullock, a spokesman for the US embassy, made it clear that such activity would not be tolerated. Less than two hours after Mr Jabor's fiery performance, Mr Bullock gave an unscheduled press conference in Baghdad.

“We do not tolerate any abuse of detainees in Iraq. Even one case is too much, anywhere,” he said.

In a direct reference to the claims that Shia organisations are operating under the flag of the Interior Ministry, he said: “We have made clear to the Iraqi government that there must not be militia or sectarian control or direction of Iraqi security forces, facilities or ministries.

“The Iraqi government must take measures to ensure this kind of thing does not happen again.”

The scandal threatens to undermine trust in key sections of the Iraqi security service in the run-up to elections for a permanent government on December 15.

"It’s extremely damaging," said Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper, referring to the torture bunker and the United State's admission yesterday that it used white phosphorus in its assault of the Sunni city of Fallujah.

"Saddam’s regime never pretended to be democratic or a champion of human rights. But the Americans are supposed to be the leaders of the free world, while those practising torture represent the new Iraq, which is supposed to be democratic and defend human rights," Mr Atwan told Reuters.

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