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LONDON-Britain's defense minister made an unusual public apology on Thursday, admitting Britain had taken part in "renditions" of suspects detained in Iraq after denying it for years.In a lengthy statement to parliament, Defense Secretary John Hutton confirmed that Britain handed over two suspects captured in Iraq in 2004 to U.S. custody and that they were subsequently transferred to Afghanistan, breaching U.S.-British agreements.The Ministry of Defense has been repeatedly asked over the past five years about its involvement in rendition, the unlawful transfer of suspects to a third country, and consistently denied it played any role in the U.S.-administered program."I regret that it is now clear that inaccurate information on this particular issue has been given to the House by my department on a small number of occasions," Hutton said."I want to apologize to the House for these errors."Two men seized by British troops in Iraq in February 2004 were transferred to U.S. detention and later flown to Afghanistan, where they remain in U.S. custody.Both are said to be members of Laskhar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based group with links to al Qaeda.Human rights groups said Hutton's admission amounted to a "major U-turn" that called into question the government's previous denials and whether its position now was believable. "For years now the British government has been tossing us miserable scraps of information about its involvement in illegal renditions in Pakistan, Diego Garcia and now Afghanistan," said Clara Gutteridge, an investigator with Reprieve, a charity that campaigns for the release of detainees at Guantanamo Bay."Enough is enough.The British government must come clean and reveal exactly who it has captured, what has been done to them and where they are now," she said."I'm afraid this is only the tip of the renditions iceberg."By Luke Baker
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