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Probe into abuse charge

SAN JUAN (Puerto Rico): The U.S. Southern Command has launched an investigation into ``credible allegations'' that guards at Guantanamo Bay abused detenus, and appointed an army colonel to head the probe. The Pentagon's Inspector General's office said on Friday that it had ordered the Miami-based Southern Command to investigate after Marine Lt. Col. Colby Vokey, who represents a detenu at the U.S. naval base in eastern Cuba, filed the ``hotline'' complaint last week. Lt. Col. Vokey attached a sworn statement from his paralegal, Sgt. Heather Cerveny, in which she said several guards in a bar at Guantanamo Bay bragged about beating detenus and described it as common practice. Sgt. Cerveny visited the U.S. Naval Base in Cuba last month and said she spent an hour with the guards at the military club. Gen. John Craddock, the commander of the Southern Command, said later on Friday that he had ordered the investigation, headed by an army colonel. — AP

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