LONDON, Feb 22: Nearly 100 prisoners have died in US custody in Iraq and Afghanistan since Aug 2002, the Human Rights First organisation said on Wednesday ahead of the publication of their report.

Ninety-eight deaths occurred, with 34 of them suspected or confirmed homicides — deliberate or reckless killing — the group of US lawyers told BBC television on Tuesday.

Their dossier claims that 11 more deaths are deemed suspicious and that between eight and 12 prisoners were tortured to death. However, charges are rare and sentences are light, the report said.

The report comes a week after new photographs of alleged prisoner abuse at Baghdad’s notorious US-run Abu Grab prison emerged.

The report alleged that one person was made to jump off a bridge into the Tigris river in Iraq and another was forced inside a sleeping bag and suffocated.

The number of deaths in custody discounts those due to fighting, mortar attacks or violence between detainees. They were directly attributable to their detention or interrogation in American custody, the BBC’s News night programme said.—AFP