United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan said he was "deeply disturbed" by images in the media showing Iraqi detainees being mistreated and humiliated. He has asked the US-led forces to prevent such abuses in the future.

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"The secretary general hopes that this was an isolated incident and welcomes what appears to be a clear determination on the part of the US military to bring those responsible to justice, and to prevent such abuses in the future," Annan's spokesman Fred Eckhard said on Friday.

"In all circumstances, and in all places, the secretary general is strongly opposed to the mistreatment of detainees," Eckhard said, adding the secretary general "reiterates that all detainees should be fully protected in accordance with the provisions of international human rights law."

The CBS television network had on April 28 aired pictures of the prisoners allegedly being abused at Iraq's Abu Gharib prison. US President George W Bush and the US State Department had expressed "disgust" at the incident.