Minnesota troops rescue Iraq torture victims

01/27/2007

Minnesota Guard troops in Iraq made a grim discovery of torture victims in a house near Fallujah.


Mark Brunswick
Last update: January 26, 2007


Members of the Minnesota National Guard deployed in Iraq rescued three victims shackled to blood-stained walls during a raid on a "torture house" near Fallujah late Monday and early Tuesday, discovering shackles, chains, clubs and a blow torch.

One of the victims had been burnt and cut, his kneecaps were shattered and he was slipping into shock when the troops discovered him.

The troops, part of Company B of the 2-136th Infantry, expected to find the house but not victims inside, said Capt. Chip Rankin, of Litchfield.

"They looked like they hadn't eaten or had any water in a long time," Rankin said in a news release provided by the Multi-National Corps Iraq in Baghdad. "There's no doubt we saved those three individuals' lives by getting there when we did."

After discovering the victims, the troops, a contingent of the Minnesota National Guard based between Fallujah and Ramadi in Anbar Province, detained 10 peoplewho were identified by the victims as people who inhabited the house. Eleven others had been captured in an earlier operation. Seven of the detainees were later identified as known Al Qaeda operatives and the other seven were identified as known insurgents or criminals, the release said.

Inside the home, troops discovered chains with blood stains on them.

During their patrol, the soldiers discovered multiple weapons caches in other nearby houses while conducting intelligence-driven searches, according to another account in the Marine Times.

The discovery included a mortar targeting system and a sniper rifle with scope, as well as a Bongo truck with a mounted anti-aircraft gun and another vehicle rigged as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device.