British, Iraqi forces seize Basra police station

BASRA, Iraq, Dec 25 (Reuters) British and Iraqi forces seized one of the main police stations in Iraq's southern city of Basra today because they said the Major Crimes Unit had become a ''criminal enterprise''.

British military spokesman Captain Tane Dunlop said the troops carried out medical assessments of detainees at the building before transferring them to another police station.

''We (then) used explosives to put the building beyond use so it can no longer be used by the criminal enterprise,'' he said.

Another British military spokesman, Major Charlie Burbridge, said a lot of the detainees had been found to have injuries ''but we don't know if it was torture at this stage''.

Reuters DKA DB1216