Fort Suse began operations on October 17 and the first inmates arrived on October 24, a US military statement said Sunday.

Captain Patricia Brewer told AFP the detainees had previously been held in other theatre detainment facilities such as Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, and Camp Bucca, in southern Iraq.

"The opening of Fort Suse is a big step in the transition of detention operations to the Iraqis," the statement said, quoting Major General William Brandenburg, commanding general of detainee operations.

"It will be the first facility to be completely turned over to Iraqi control. This complete transition of operations will take place after extensive training of Iraqi guards and only after they are completely confident in their ability to run this facility."

The site is an old Russian-built army training center that was renovated in a little more than two months with a workforce of about 400 and a budget of eight million dollars.

The prison will be handed over when "Iraqi guards are confident in their ability to maintain the same high-quality level of care and control currently maintained by coalition forces," the statement said.