The situation for civilians in Afghanistan is worse now than it was a year ago, a senior international Red Cross official said today.

The international Red Cross saw US military intelligence officers mistreating prisoners under interrogation at Abu Ghraib prison and heard coalition estimates that up to 90% of Iraqi detainees were arrested by mistake, according to a report by the agency disclosed in Geneva.

THE international Red Cross saw US military intelligence officers mistreating prisoners under interrogation at Abu Ghraib prison and said up to 90% of Iraqi detainees were arrested by mistake.

US ADMINISTRATOR Paul Bremer first heard of allegations that troops were mistreating Iraqi captives at Abu Ghraib prison in January, a spokesman said yesterday.

US DEFENCE Secretary Donald Rumsfeld yesterday apologised for the "fundamentally un-American" abuse of Iraqi prisoners and warned that more horrific pictures of mistreatment were still to come.

Beleaguered US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld today extended “my deepest apologies” to Iraqi prisoners abused by military personnel and told Congress he accepts full responsibility for the shocking events.

The Red Cross is reducing its international staff in Iraq, but remain in the country for the sake of the Iraqi people despite the suicide bombing on its Baghdad headquarters.

The International Red Cross today said at least one person had died and 14 were wounded in the first day of war in Iraq.