Mass Murder, Torture Reported In Iraq

An upcoming U.N. report says thousands of people were killed in Iraq during mass murder, torture and executions without trial, an Egyptian newspaper reported Saturday.

U.N. envoys to Iraq gathered hundreds of records supporting accusations of human rights abuses by Saddam Hussein’s government, the state-run Al-Gomhuriyya newspaper reported.

The newspaper quoted witness accounts and documents revealing summary executions - mostly of minority Iraqi Kurds - often for purposes of intimidation, and said thousands of political detainees were tortured by police trying to extract confessions.

The paper said women and children were among the victims who died in police raids against Kurdish rebels during the 1991 uprising following the U.S.-led campaign to end Iraq’s invasion of neighboring Kuwait.