Soldier details abuse allegations
 |  The solider made the allegations in the Daily Mirror newspaper. |
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 Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is targeted over his handling of the abuse scandal.
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LONDON, England -- New claims that British troops abused prisoners of war in Iraq are being investigated by Britain's Royal Military Police.
A soldier told military police he saw four beatings where detainees were punched and kicked, according to Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper.
In one incident, a sandbag was placed over a suspect's face and his eyes were poked until he screamed, the soldier told the newspaper.
The men are said to come from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, which is already at the center of in investigation over pictures showing alleged abuse.
Soldier "C" was being questioned by the Royal Military Police after becoming the third to contact the Daily Mirror with allegations of abuse.
Daily Mirror Editor Piers Morgan has come under fire for publishing pictures said to show soldiers torturing and abusing Iraqi detainees.
Doubts have been raised about their authenticity, but the newspaper insists they are genuine. Morgan has been accused of endangering the lives of British soldiers by printing them.
Morgan is to be questioned by members of parliament over the pictures.
The soldier's claims came after UK Prime Minister Tony Blair issued his strongest condemnation yet of any abuses and President George W. Bush said apologized for the first time for the actions of some U.S. troops.
Blair said: "Those things are completely and totally unacceptable. They are inexcusable and there can be no possible justification for them.
"And we must do everything that we can do and need to do in order to root out such practices and bring to justice those responsible for them."
President George W. Bush on Thursday apologized for the first time for the abuse saying that he is "sorry for the humiliation suffered" by Iraqi prisoners at the hands of U.S. troops in Iraq. (Full story)
