BAGHDAD, May 3 (Xinhuanet) -- Six US army officers had received letter of reprimand for their involvement in a prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq, a US military official said Monday.

    Before the punishment, the six senior commissioned and non-commissioned officers at the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad had undergone an administrative investigation ordered by Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of US forces in Iraq.

    Meanwhile, six other US soldiers are criminally investigated fortheir involvement in the alleged abuse at the prison notorious in former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's era for its torture chambers.

    But the US official refused to release the names or ranks of those punished, saying a seventh person received a lesser letter of admonishment in connection with the same incident.

    Last week, the US network CBS released pictures of US soldiers abusing and humiliating prisoners inside Abu Ghraib, including piling them up naked and hooded.

    The alleged abuses were said to have involved around 20 prisoners and took place in November and December last year. Enditem