More than 170 malnourished detainees found at an Interior Ministry detention centre in Baghdad appear to have been tortured, the Iraqi prime minister says. 

The announcement by Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari on Tuesday came two days after US troops surrounded and took control of an Interior Ministry building in the Baghdad neighbourhood where the detainees were found.

"I was informed that there were 173 detainees held at an Interior Ministry prison and they appear to be malnourished. There is also some talk that they were subjected to some kind of torture," al-Jaafari told reporters.

Al-Jaafari said said an investigation had been launched.

An Iraqi Interior Ministry official also said on Monday that an investigation will be opened into allegations that ministry officers tortured suspects detained in connection with the country's on going fight against the foreign military presence in the country. 

Al-Jaafari said the detainees were moved into a better location and "medical care will be given to them".

Most Iraqi fighters are Sunni Arabs, who were dominant under Saddam Hussein's regime but lost power after his ouster.

The Interior Ministry is controlled by the majority Shia. Sunni leaders have accused Shia-dominated security forces of detaining, torturing and killing hundreds of Sunnis simply because of their religious affiliation.

The prime minister did not say where the prison was located, but Major General Hussein Kamal, the Interior Ministry's undersecretary for security, said it was in the basement of a building in Baghdad's neighbourhood of Jadriyah.

Amnesty International welcomed al-Jaafari's decision to order an investigation but urged him to expand the probe to include all allegations of torture. Amnesty also asked him to make the results public.

"There have been many reports of torture and maltreatment of Iraqi detainees by the Iraqi police and security forces belonging to the Ministry of Interior such as the Wolf Brigade," spokeswoman Nicole Choueiry said.

"Amnesty International recently received information of four people who were tortured while detained by Iraqi security forces."

A former Iraqi detainee told Aljazeera.net that sectarianism is the real motive behind the torture in the prisons of the Iraqi Ministry of Interior.

"I was detained without charge. I was tortured and my guards used to tell me that Sunnis are out of power now and we (Shia) have to take revenge on you," Umar Raghib said.

Raghib said he left Iraq after his release.

Late on Sunday, US troops surrounded and took control of the Interior Ministry building in Jadriyah following repeated allegations that Iraq security forces were illegally detaining and torturing people suspected of participating in attacks by groups opposed to the US-led forces.

The US military declined comment on the incident and referred all questions to the Iraqi Interior Ministry.

US officials have been encouraging Sunni Arabs to take part in next month's parliamentary elections in hopes that a strong turnout by the disaffected minority could help ease sectarian tensions, calm the armed opposition to US military in Iraq and the US-backed Iraqi government and speed the day when foreign troops could go home.

Al-Jaafari did not say whether US troops were involved in discovering the centre.

Al-Jaafari, who is a Shia, said one of his deputies will be heading a committee that will include some ministers and will investigate what happened. The committee will finish its work within two weeks, al-Jaafari said.

"They should investigate how this happened and how it reached this point," al-Jaafari said.

PHOTO CAPTION

Iraq's Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari talks to journalists during a news conference in Baghdad November 15, 2005. (REUTERS)