Coalition forces seize Basra police station

Basra: British and Iraqi forces seized one of the main police stations in Iraq's southern city of Basra on Monday 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".