KABUL, July 3: The US military said on Saturday it was investigating a new allegation of prisoner abuse, the third to be examined in Afghanistan following revelations of detainee abuse in Iraq.

US military spokesman Major Jon Siepmann said investigators were being called in to probe the claim, which follows earlier allegations of prisoner abuse in Afghanistan.

"This week the coalition reviewed a new allegation of detainee abuse occurring within its area of responsibility," he said. "The Naval Criminal Investigation Service is looking into the allegation."

Two prior claims of prisoner abuse in Afghanistan emerged following global outcry over the treatment of detainees in Iraq. The Afghanistan allegations are believed to include assault, poor living conditions and sleep deprivation.

Siepmann said he was unable to comment on where or when the latest abuse supposedly took place or any other details regarding the allegation.

"Right now it's just an allegation, we don't know that anything in particular occurred," he said. "We cannot release any of the details of the investigation itself."

Siepmann said the Naval Criminal Investigation Service usually looked into cases involving "naval and marine corps issues".

"They were the appropriate entity to conduct the investigation," he said.

A review into US prisons here is due to be made public within days.

The US military is also investigating the deaths of five Afghans, three of which occurred while the deceased was in US custody. Two of these deaths, which occurred in Dec 2002, were the result of "blunt-force injuries".

Significant improvements were made at US-run prisons following these deaths.

The American military has a primary detention facility at Bagram Air Base, their operations centre some 50 kilometres north of Kabul.

Another 19 transit detention centres are placed around the country, some in rugged and remote areas where troops from a 20,000-strong US-led force are fighting Taliban, Al-Qaeda and other militants.

Some 300 people are in custody at the moment, and rights groups have expressed concerns about their legal status, living conditions and the ways in which they were arrested with most detained during fighting or through intelligence from locals and their agents.

The military has been accused of using poor intelligence, particularly that given by those with tribal links who misinform the troops to pursue personal enmities.

The military has repeatedly denied this criticism, saying it always checks its sources.

US forces last week said that they had captured two mid-level Taliban leaders in southern Afghanistan, but the authorities in the province later said the arrested people were low-ranking government officials.

"People have told the Afghan Human Rights Commission that people gave false information to the Americans to pursue their enemies," commissioner Ahmad Nader Nadery said.

"In some cases we also found it so," he said, adding he was "very concerned" about the US-led coalition not sharing information on the prisoners with the watchdog.

The commission has registered three complaints of prison abuse. One complaint involves an ex-police officer who says he was beaten, deprived of sleep and humiliated in custody in 2003.

The Afghan government said it was pleased with Saturday's announcement.

"The Afghan government welcomes the continuing investigations into various instances of prisoner abuse," foreign ministry spokesman Omar Samad said.-AFP