Aljazeera has aired exclusive footage of tortured prisoners being held in a Baghdad jail run by the Iraqi Interior Ministry.

Dozens of prisoners, mostly Sunni Arabs, were being kept in small rooms, reported Aljazeera's correspondent. Some have been in prison for years already.

The prisoners' collapsed and cried when they saw a camera, hoping their tragedy will be known to people all over the world, said the correspondent.

In the videotape aired on Monday, tearful prisoners described their torture, which included electric shocks. Some showed scars on their bodies to prove the abuse.

Many of the prisoners, aged between 20 and 60 years, said they were taken from the streets or their work places, with no charges filed against them.

They said they were forced, under torture, to sign confessions that they had committed dangerous crimes.

Release

The jail is located near the Iraqi Interior Ministry in Baghdad.

The Iraqi Human Rights Ministry has confirmed the revelations in the footage, while the Iraqi government refused to comment except to say that it would launch an investigation into the latest revelation.

About 65 of the prisoners were released immediately after the video was aired, while 75 others were transferred to another jail.

The correspondent said the jail is probably one that Iraqi government investigators have not yet visited.

The revelation comes ahead of the Iraqi legislative elections on Thursday.
Attacks
Also on Monday, an empty minibus loaded with explosives
exploded near a hospital in east Baghdad, killing three people and wounding 13.

Other violence in and around Baghdad on Monday killed another six people, bring the total to nine. A total of 21 people were injured.

The minibus, Lieutenant Mohammed Khayoun of the Baghdad emergency police said, exploded near the al-Kindi hospital and east Baghdad's Nadhaa bus station. The driver of the van abandoned it on the street and ran, he added.

All three killed were Iraqi civilians, and the wounded included five police officers, he said.

In Baghdad, police said that a number of clashes between unidentified armed men, police and the Iraqi army resulted in the death of two police officers and injuries to another nine.

PHOTO CAPTION

Two leaders of Unified Iraqi Coalition, Ibrahim Al-Jaafari, left and Abdul-Aziz Al-Hakim in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2005. (AP)