WASHINGTON, April 25: Iraqi and US inspectors have found more cases of physical abuse of prisoners at facilities run by the interior ministry, a Pentagon spokesman said on Monday.

The US-Iraqi teams have inspected six detention facilities since November when the US military discovered a secret bunker with 173 prisoners, some of them showing signs of torture, at an interior ministry compound in Baghdad, said spokesman Bryan Whitman.

“In some of these inspections, they have revealed some instances of physical abuse, but abuse that appears to have occurred prior to the individual arriving at that site,” he said.

Mr Whitman said the Iraqi interior ministry was responsible for any investigations.

“I think we all need to be reminded: Iraq is a sovereign nation,” he said. “They’ve just appointed a prime minister, okay. The US is there in a supporting, assisting kind of role.” —AFP