WikiLeaks says logs show 15,000 more Iraq deaths

WikiLeaks said on Saturday its release of nearly 400,000 classified U.S. files on the Iraq war showed 15,000 more Iraqi civilians died than previously thought. Uploaded on the WikiLeaks' website, the files detailed gruesome cases of prisoner abuse by Iraqi forces that the U.S. military knew about but did not seem to investigate. In Baghdad, Iraqi officials responded to WikiLeaks' move by pledging to probe any allegations that police or soldiers had committed crimes and any culprits would be prosecuted. The whistle-blowing website's founder, Julian Assange, who was sharply criticized by the Pentagon for publishing the secret reports, said the release should throw light on what had happened in Iraq, thwarting an official "attack on the truth." "We hope to correct some of that attack on the truth that occurred before the war, during the war and which has continued on since the war officially concluded," he told a news conference in London.