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A US soldier stands next to Iraqi soldiers along the Tigris river south of Baghdad. Image Credit: AFP

Riyadh: The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has called on Washington to probe possible “crimes against humanity” in Iraq in light of documents released by whistleblower website WikiLeaks, reports said yesterday.

“The US is requested to open a serious and transparent investigation into the information contained in these documents on the commission of crimes against humanity” in Iraq, GCC secretary-general Abdul Rahman Al Attiyah said.

The US was responsible for any “abuse and crimes committed by its troops in Iraq”, Al Attiyah said in a statement widely cited by Gulf media outlets.

WikiLeaks published on Friday nearly 400,000 secret US military documents that offer a grim snapshot of the conflict from 2004 to 2009, especially of the abuse of civilians by Iraqi security forces.

Evidence of torture

The heavily abridged logs appear to show the US military turned a blind eye to evidence of torture and abuse of civilians by the Iraqi authorities.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said the documents reveal about 15,000 more civilian deaths in Iraq than were previously known.

Last night, General George Casey, top US Army general, said that US forces tried to stop abuse by Iraqi authorities of prisoners, denying suggestions in the WikiLeaks logs.