WASHINGTON - The US military, embroiled in a scandal over the abuse of prisoners in Iraq, is investigating as homicides the deaths of eight more prisoners held by American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon said on Friday.
A senior military official, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, said eightprisoner deaths under investigation have been "classified by medical authorities as homicides, which involve suspected assaults of detainees either before or during interrogation sessions that may have led to the detainees' death."
These deaths are in addition to two homicides of Iraqi prisoners, which the US Army said on May 4 had been committed by Americans. The official said the military was looking into more than 30 deaths of prisoners, primarily in Iraq.
Treatment of prisoners held by US forces has come under scrutiny amid ongoing revelations about the physical and sexual abuse of Iraqi inmates at the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad.
The military official said the eight additional deaths deemed as homicides were among nine prisoner fatalities that remained under active investigation by the Army. The ninth death appeared to be due to natural causes, the official said.
As used by medical examiners, the term homicide "is defined as a death that results from the volitional act committed by another person to cause fear, harm or death," the official said. "I must emphasize that, as used by the medical examiner, it is a neutral term and neither indicates nor implies criminal intent."
The official did not give details on when final findings on these deaths would be made by Army criminal investigators.
The two homicides previously disclosed by the Army involved a US Army soldier who fatally shot an Iraqi prisoner who had been throwing rocks and a private contractor who worked for the CIA who killed an Iraqi prisoner, Army officials said.
The military official provided few details of the additional eight cases now classified as homicides.
