The United States Army destroyed additional photographs of American soldiers staging mock executions of prisoners in Afghanistan last year in order to prevent another public scandal from erupting in the wake of the Abu Ghraib debacle according to newly released documents.
The documents were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act as a result of a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The ACLU contends that this evidence shows that prisoner abuse was much more wide spread than previously believed. 'It's increasingly clear that members of the military were aware of the allegations of torture and that efforts were taken to erase evidence, to shut down investigations and to humiliate the detainees in an effort to silence them,' ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said.

The photographs in question were found on a CD last July during a routine office cleanup. The photos were taken at Fire Base Tycze in the southern part of Afghanistan. After the outrage caused by the release of photos at Abu Ghraib, these pictures were destroyed.

Another prisoner was reportedly beaten with a baseball bat, had his nose broken and his arms dislocated and then had an unloaded pistol placed in his mouth. The prisoner did not know the gun was unloaded and the trigger was pulled. The prisoner was eventually set free but only after he agreed not to press abuse charges against the American soldiers.

The army has refused to comment on the new allegations.