Sun Apr 3, 2005 7:44 AM BST
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The number of U.S. soldiers wounded in a battle with insurgents outside Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison has risen to more than 40, from an earlier count of 20, the U.S. military says.
Most of the injuries were light, but several were serious, according to Lieutenant Colonel Guy Rudisill, spokesman for detainee operations in Iraq. All of the wounded were being treated at the prison's medical facility.
"There are 44 U.S. soldiers injured, but only a few of those are serious," Rudisill said on Sunday, adding that there was no increase in the number of wounded detainees, 12 of whom were hurt in the well-organised attack, one of them severely.
At least one insurgent was confirmed killed in the battle late on Saturday, but the colonel said he expected the true toll was far higher after intense fighting that lasted around an hour and involved U.S. helicopters and heavy weapons.
A group of between 40 and 60 insurgents attacked the prison after dark, ramming a suicide car bomb into a perimeter building, he said. Another car bomb detonated shortly afterwards, as U.S. troops were tending to the wounded from the first.
Then rocket-propelled grenades, mortars, small arms and other weapons were fired at the extensive prison complex on the western outskirts of Baghdad.
U.S. forces called in air and armoured support and engaged the insurgents for around an hour, officers said.
The assault was believed to be the largest and most determined yet against the prison, which is notorious for the U.S. prisoner abuse scandal that emerged last year.
Abu Ghraib is one of three U.S.-run detention facilities in Iraq and holds more than 3,000 prisoners, all of them suspected of involvement in the insurgency. There is also an Iraqi-run section of the jail where criminal detainees are held.
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.