July 17 (Bloomberg) -- Iraq's interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi shot dead as many as six suspected insurgents at a jail before the U.S.-led occupation coalition transferred political control to his government, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on its Web site, citing two, unidentified witnesses.

The prisoners, blindfolded and handcuffed, were killed in a courtyard in a maximum-security section of the al-Amariyah security center in a suburb of Baghdad, according to the witnesses, who were separately interviewed by the newspaper. Allawi told onlookers that the men had each killed as many as 50 Iraqis and ``deserved worse than death,'' the newspaper cited the witnesses as recounting. They said the incident happened about a week before the power handover.

Allawi then drew a pistol and shot each prisoner in the head as about a dozen Iraqi policemen and four Americans from Allawi's security team looked on, the newspaper reported. One of the witnesses there said Allawi said he wanted to send a message to militants fighting Iraq's interim government, before shooting the prisoners, the newspaper said. As many as five of those killed were Iraqis, the witnesses told the newspaper.

Allawi's office, in a letter to the newspaper, denied the witnesses' accounts, saying Allawi had never visited the prison and he did not carry a gun. The allegations are rumors instigated by enemies of Allawi's government, the letter said.

(Sydney Morning Herald 7-17)

To contact the reporter on this story: Todd Zeranski in New York at tzeranski@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 16, 2004 18:08 EDT