Soldiers build secret camp to intern thousands of Iraqi captives

British and American soldiers are building an internment camp at a secret location inside Iraq to hold thousands of prisoners of war from Saddam Hussein's forces. So far they have not disclosed the location, even to the Red Cross which has a right under international law to visit prisoners.

About 500 British soldiers from the Queen's Dragoon Guards are among those troops involved in building the camp close to the Kuwaiti border. It will have feeding stations, washing facilities and areas for providing medical care.

Earlier this week, General Tommy Franks, the officer overseeing the US-led war, said American and British forces had taken about 3,000 Iraqi prisoners of war. Iraq is holding at least seven Americans.

"The number of enemy prisoners of war we have taken is in line with expectations," said Major Michael Sheridan, of the US 800th Military Police Brigade. "They are being treated purely, strictly ... by the Geneva Conventions. They are getting all the basic necessities of human dignity."

According to the Geneva Conventions, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), has the right to visit PoWs and speak to them in private. In the build-up to the current conflict, represent-atives from the ICRC met senior officials from both Washington and Baghdad to discuss arrangements for any PoWs and access for the independent visitors.

"We don't know [where the prisoners are being held]," said Tamara Al-Rifa, a spokeswoman for the ICRC based in Kuwait.

"We have contacted the Iraqis and the coalition and we said we wanted to see the prisoners. It was quite positive. It could be quite soon. It's not something that happens very quickly."

Earlier this week, America was quick to criticise Iraq for showing images on television of some of the US troops captured south of Baghdad.

Washington claimed that Iraq was in breach of an article included in the third of the Geneva Conventions which says prisoners must not only be spared violence and intimidation, but must also be protected, "against insults and public curiosity".

However, British and American television channels have shown numerous images of Iraqi prisoners, being marched with their hands above their heads or else with their hands bound behind their backs with plastic cuffs.

It is perhaps this sensitivity that has led American and British military officials to be so reluctant to provide all but the most basic details about the Iraqi PoWs – even the number they are expecting to deal with.

"That is classified information," said Major Sheridan. "That could provide information about our tactics or future tactics."

Despite numerous calls to officials in both Kuwait City and at Central Command in Qatar, no one from the British military was available yesterday to comment on the PoW issue.

Initial predictions by American war planners suggested that thousands of Iraqi soldiers would surrender. So far, these estimates have not proved accurate with even the regular Iraqi army showing a willingness to fight that has surprised US and British officials.

In addition to allowing PoWs access to visitors from the ICRC, the Geneva Conventions state that PoWs should have adequate food, water and tobacco. They are to be housed in the same conditions available to their captors and they are to be released at the cessation of hostilities.

Rations provided to the Iraqi prisoners have included two bottles of water, a large box of processed cheese, canned stuffed aubergines, a carton of chocolate milk, sweet biscuits, two tins of chicken luncheon meat, a can of orange juice, a tin of tuna steak in sunflower oil, a tub of honey and two spoons.