BAGHDAD - An Amnesty International report, released Wednesday, savaged the US military in Iraq for human rights abuses, particularly violence against civilians and its treatment of prisoners, AFP reported.

The human rights watchdog warned US military raids are claiming the lives of everyday people and resulting in the disappearance of Iraqis without a trace into the prison system.

"Given the legacy Iraq has ..., it's definitely not sending the right message that the provisional authority really respects the rights of the Iraqi people," Amnesty's spokeswoman, Judit Arenas Licea, told AFP.

In a cause for concern, Licea, who attended a meeting with Iraqi civil associations Tuesday morning, said she was struck by the groups' eagerness to talk about abuses under the Americans as opposed to those under Saddam Hussein, who terrorised the country until his fall April 9.

"People are afraid of going out on the streets, being picked up and going missing," she said, in a warning that the climate evoked by the Americans unintentionally reminded Iraqis of their experiences at the mercy of Saddam's dreaded security services.

"It is the same scene being repeated now. You still have the same crowds of people outside Abu Gharib prison looking for their relatives," she said, referring to the penitentiary where many vanished after being taken away under Saddam's autocratic rule.

The Amnesty report, or memorandum, surveys incidents across Iraq, from north to south, since April 24, two weeks after Baghdad fell.

While acknowledging the dangerous situation for US troops in post-war Iraq, the report expressed alarm about violence against the civilians.

It noted the April shooting deaths by US troops of demonstrators in Fallujah west of Baghdad and in Mosul in northern Iraq, and said it had since gone on to uncover further "possible unlawful killings" of protestors.

It expressed worry about the lethal use of force by the US-led coalition.

"Amnesty International has received a number of reports of cases of detainees who have died in custody where ill treatment may have caused or contributed to deaths that have been reported," the report said.

The report lists multiple incidents of excessive force, in which the death of Saddi Sueliman Ibrahim al-Ubayadi stands out.

Witnesses told Amnesty Ubayadi's house was raided in the early morning by US forces in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, on May 14, when they proceeded to beat him with rifle butts.

"He ran out of the house to get away from them; soldiers shot him a few meters away and he died immediately," the report says.

Licea also drew attention to the shooting of Mohammad al-Kubaisi, aged 12, in Baghdad on June 26.

Soldiers in an opposite building opened fire on Kubaisi, as he carried bedding up to the roof of his house. A witness told Amnesty he shouted to the soldier:" 'That baby', but the soldier said 'No baby' and opened fire." The boy's mother told Amnesty about 20 soldiers entered the house and "kicked her aside, as she held the heavily bleeding boy and did not offer medical treatment."

When neighbours tried to drive the boy to the hospital, a tank stopped them and the driver was handcuffed to the ground, despite the presence of a US interpreter.

They were allowed up after 15 minutes, but by then the boy was dead, the report says.

"That boy might have been alive if he'd been able to get to the hospital," Licea said.