WASHINGTON, July 22 (Xinhuanet) -- The US military has discovered 94 confirmed or possible prisoner abuse cases by American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan since the fall of 2001, military officials said Thursday.

    The number, contained in a report which was partially made public at a Senate hearing, showed a sharp increase from the previous figure revealed by the Pentagon.

    Army inspector general Paul Mikolashek uncovered 94 cases of "confirmed or possible abuse of any type, which include theft, physical assault, sexual assault and death," between October 2001 and early June 2004, Acting Army Secretary Les Brownlee said.

    The Army has launched criminal investigations into the allegations and legal action has been and will be taken when necessary, he told the US Senate Armed Services Committee.

    The inspector general investigation concluded, however, that there were no systemic problems that contributed to the abuse.

    Forty-five of the abuses occurred when the detainee was captured, 21 happened at detention centers such as Abu Ghraib, andonly eight cases took place during or surrounding interrogations, according to Mikolashek.

    The Army inspector general investigation, by far the most comprehensive examination of the abuse scandal, found that since the fall of 2001, the United States had held more than 50,000 prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq. Enditem