Human rights group Amnesty International (AI) accused US-led forces on Tuesday of being better prepared for the defense of Iraq's oil wells than of its people and infrastructure.

"There seems to have been more preparation to protect the oil wells than to protect hospitals, water systems or civilians," Irene Khan, secretary-general of AI, said.

"And the first taste of the coalition's approach to law and order will not have inspired confidence in the Iraqi people."

"Protecting people should be a primary responsibility of any power that expects to enter a country and justifies its intervention on the basis of liberating the people or protecting their rights," she said.

On Iraq's future, Amnesty objected to leaders of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) taking part in a new government because of alleged rights' violations during a civil war in the mid-1990s.

Amnesty said the groups, which have shared control of northern Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War, were responsible for many civilian deaths and widespread torture.Reuters