Sadists of 'The Slaughterhouse'

Evidence of execution & torture as ousted regime's prison probed | Bounty on heads of henchmen as hopes fade of finding victims

- CHRIS HUGHES

THE deadly extent of atrocities carried out by henchmen of Bashar al-Assad began to be laid bare yesterday as authorities searched a jail nicknamed The Slaughterhouse.

Evidence of execution and torture, along with the clothes and shoes of thousands of suspected victims, were uncovered in hidden chambers at Sednaya prison.

It came as Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa yesterday pledged to use a multi-million pound warchest to fund bounties on the heads of perpetrators, even if they are cowering abroad.

It came as Israel continued its bombardment of Syria's military sites, smashing missile launch HQs and chemical warfare silos to stop rebel fighters getting hold of them.

Ousted president Assad was himself in hiding in Moscow with his family as the hunt for his death squads was announced.

Thousands of Syrians went to the bloodstained jail in Damascus in the slim hope of finding loved ones who had been held by his regime.

Dozens of bodies recently killed inside the concrete complex show signs of torture, indicating that Assad's killers carried out atrocities during his final hours of power.

Rebels probing eerie sounds used sledgehammers and drills to look for hidden dungeons at the site where up to 15,000 people are thought to have been tortured and killed.

In all, 157,000 disappeared, including 5,274 children and 10,221 women, at Assad jails and kill sites.