Full catalogue of Abu Ghraib abuse revealed

The full extent of US soldiers' abuse of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib became apparent for the first time yesterday with the leak of a report of the US Army's internal investigation.

Almost two years after the first pictures of naked and humiliated prisoners emerged, the American online magazine Salon posted a story saying it had obtained the fullest photographic catalogue of the mistreatment yet.

It said it included 1,325 photographs and 93 video clips of suspected abuse of detainees, 546 photos of suspected dead detainees, 660 images of adult pornography and 29 pictures of US troops engaged in simulated sex. All were dated between 18 October and 30 December 2003.

Coming a day after Australian television aired previously unseen footage from the prison, the revelations come at a bad time for Washington. A spokesman for the Pentagon said the released images "could only further inflame and possibly incite unnecessary violence in the world".

The 18 images Salon chose to publish show ritualistic humiliation - the now-recognisable heaps of naked Iraqi men; some hooded, others wearing women's underwear on their heads.

They reveal the seeming normality of such scenes within Abu Ghraib: one photo shows Staff Sergeant Ivan "Chip" Frederick, tried for his role in the scandal, clipping his fingernails next to an Iraqi standing on a box wearing a hood and electrical wires. In another, a sergeant can be seen filling out paperwork while a naked, hooded prisoner cowers in the background. Others show a blood-streaked cell and a beaten corpse.

Salon said it was leaked the material by a military source familiar with the investigation and who had spent time at Abu Ghraib.