KABUL, Aug 9 (AFP) - The US military said Monday it would delay announcing the results of a long-awaited review of prisoner abuse in Afghanistan for the third time, saying they would "hopefully" be released by the end of August.
The "top-to-bottom" report on prisoner-holding facilities in Afghanistan was launched by the US military in May after revelations of widespread abuse of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan involving American soldiers.
"We have told you many times that it's coming, coming, coming and I hope I have some credibility here when I say that it's coming soon," military spokesman Major Scott Nelson told a news conference in Kabul.
The release of the potentially damaging report probing prison conditions and allegations of abuse of prisoners in its holding facilities in the war-ravaged country has already been delayed twice by the US military.
Results of the nearly month-long investigation were due to be unveiled in late June and then pushed back to the end of June.
"I'm telling you hopefully yes, by the end of this month (August) we will have something for you," Nelson said.
He said that the coalition has completed the study of the report and is working on plans on "how to get that information out" to media.
Brigadier General Charles H. Jacoby who headed the probe visited all 20-odd detention sites the US military operates in Afghanistan.
The exact number and location of the holding centers has been kept under wraps but many are believed to be in remote and impoverished parts of the troubled south and southeast Afghanistan.
Militants detained in these locations are then meant to be moved swiftly to the main US military detention centers in southern Kandahar city and Bagram air base outside Kabul.
The US military is believed to hold 300 prisoners as part of the campaign by the 20,000-strong US-led coalition to hunt down militants in southern and eastern Afghanistan.
The review was prompted by several allegations of abuse from Afghans held in US detention centers, who revealed to media that they were abused by their American holders during detention.
A contractor employed by the CIA was charged in June with beating to death an inmate at Afghan detention camp.
The US military is also investigating the deaths of five Afghans, three of which occurred while the deceased were in US custody. Two of these deaths, which happened in December 2002, were the result of "blunt-force injuries".
The US-led coalition has been in Afghanistan since the fall of the hardline Taliban in late 2001 and has been battling loyalists to the ousted regime who have stepped up their attacks on foreign and pro-government troops.