WASHINGTON, May 26: The US Army general sent by the Pentagon to bolster the collection of intelligence from prisoners at Abu Ghraib is said to have urged the use of guard dogs to frighten Iraqi detainees , The Washington Post said on Wednesday, citing sworn testimony by the top US intelligence official at the prison.

Col Thomas Pappas testified that the idea came from Maj Gen Geoffrey Miller, then commander of the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and was implemented under a policy approved by Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez, the top military official in Iraq, the newspaper reported.

Senior defence officials said on Tuesday that Gen Sanchez was being replaced as the US commander in Iraq. But they argued the change was not triggered by the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal.

According to a transcript obtained by The Washington Post, Col Pappas told the Army investigator, Maj Gen Antonio Taguba: "It was a technique I had personally discussed with Gen Miller, when he was here" visiting the prison.

"He said that they used military working dogs at Gitmo [the nickname for Guantanamo Bay], and that they were effective in setting the atmosphere for which, you know, you could get information" from the prisoners, Col Pappas said in the testimony.

Gen Miller, who assumed command of Abu Ghraib this month, denied through a spokesman that the conversation took place, the newspaper said. "Miller never had a conversation with Colonel Pappas regarding the use of military dogs for interrogation purposes in Iraq.

Further, military dogs were never used in interrogations at Guantanamo," Brig Gen Mark Kimmitt, spokesman for US forces in Iraq, told the Post. -Reuters