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British forces have stormed the headquarters of a rogue Iraqi police unit, fearing that the officers were about to start killing up to 178 prisoners, a military spokesman has reported.
“We've deployed a significant number of soldiers in Basra in the early hours of this morning with a view to disbanding the Serious Crimes Unit and the police station from which the unit operates,” said Major Charlie Burbridge.
“The Serious Crimes Unit is in the process of being disbanded and the jamiaat building in which they operate is in the process of being removed from service. The operation's ongoing,” he said.
Burbridge said there had been no resistance to the raid “so far” but added: “It's a big operation and it's not going to be a popular one with the people who want to see us fail, so we are expecting some.”
“There are 178 prisoners inside the police station and one of the reasons we decided to go today was that we began to receive some very accurate intelligence which suggests that the Serious Crime Unit was about to start killing the prisoners,” he added.
An AFP photographer at the scene said that several small buildings and mobile cabins in the police compound had been destroyed.
