A senior official in Iraq's Interior Ministry acknowledged Wednesday that up to 10 Sunni Arabs suffocated in a police vehicle while in custody and said those responsible will stand trial. Nine or 10 Sunni men reportedly suffocated after being held for several hours in a vehicle that lacked oxygen following an attack against an Interior Ministry patrol Sunday in west Baghdad. Temperatures at the time soared to about 45 C (113 F). Maj. Gen. Hussein Kamal, the head of intelligence department at the Interior Ministry, said the men appear "to have died after the vehicle's engine was turned off stopping the air conditioning." On Monday, the influential Sunni Muslim Association of Muslim Scholars said security forces detained, tortured and killed the 10 Sunni Muslims. Some reports said nine suffocated and the 10th was killed in the exchange of fire before the others were detained, The Associated Press reported.
