Poland denies Shiite militia torture allegations

Oct 15, 2007, 12:21 GMT

Warsaw - Poland has denied torturing any of some 88 suspected terrorists whom Polish troops had taken into custody in Iraq, Defence Minister Aleksande Szczyglo said Monday.

He said Polish troops 'immediately' handed over some 88 terror suspects detained in Iraq to US forces.

Szczyglo also slammed politicians in Poland's ongoing election campaign for pushing for a Polish troop withdrawal from Iraq, insisting this could provoke an escalation of attacks against Poles in Iraq prior to Poland's October 21 snap election.

'Let's return to the matter after the election,' he told reporters in Warsaw concerning the issue of a Polish troop withdrawal.

Over the weekend two unknown Shiite militia groups said they were responsible for several lethal attacks on Polish personnel stationed in Iraq.

Polish officials have said it is difficult to confirm whether the claims were indeed true.

In a video-taped statement masked men representing the unknown Imam Hussein Brigades and Imam Moussa al-Kadhim Brigades alleged Polish troops had tortured Iraqis in their custody and that the recent attacks were acts of revenge.

Earlier this month a blast near the Polish embassy in Baghdad seriously wounded Polish Ambassador Edward Pietrzyk and killed his bodyguard. Other recent bomb blasts near the embassy killed Iraqis.

Poland has since taken steps to move the diplomatic mission from Baghdad's Karada district to the city's high-security so-called 'Green Zone.'

Despite some 80 per cent of Poles opposing the deployment of 900 Polish troops in Iraq as part of US-led international forces, government officials have vowed to stay put.

On the campaign trail ahead of Poland's October 21 snap parliamentary election, conservative-nationalist Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski denied attacks against Polish targets would hasten a withdrawal.

Opposition parties including the liberal Civic Platform (PO) and left-wing LiD electoral coalition are calling for a withdrawal.

Among the strongest backers of the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq, Poland deployed troops to the country's south-central region in September 2003.