US says Iraqi police not behind death squads

BAGHDAD, Sep 20 (Reuters) The United States military said today it had found no evidence that the Iraqi government and its police were behind Shi'ite sectarian death squads murdering Sunnis in Baghdad.

''Initially, there were a lot of allegations that death squads were not only coming out of Ministry of Interior forces but also organised by the Ministry of Interior,'' said Major General Joseph Peterson, in charge of training Iraqi police.

''We have not identified any Ministry of Interior personnel as a part of the death squad members and leaders that we have picked up, this seems to counter the initial allegations discrediting them,'' he told a briefing in Baghdad.

Sunni leaders say they believe the police include members of Shi'ite militia whom they blame for an increase in sectarian violence that has erupted since a Shi'ite mosque was destroyed in February. The United States now says that violence is the greatest security threat in the country.

Peterson said most ''death squad'' members were part of organisations that were independent of Iraq's security ministries such as young Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia.

''The majority of the individuals we have captured belong to an organisation, and Jaish al-Mehdi is certainly one of them,'' he said, refering to the militia by its Arabic name.

He said another Shi'ite militia, the Badr organisation associated with the large Shi'ite party the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, did not appear to be involved in death squad killings.

Peterson said insurgents have killed 3,500 Iraqi policemen and seriously wounded more than 7,000 others since Sept. 2004.

REUTERS PB PM2153