Military police were Monday investigating claims that British soldiers mutilated the bodies of Iraqi insurgents after a firefight in British-occupied southern Iraq last month.
In the wake of torture allegations made public by the Guardian newspaper, investigators were to examine photographs of the bodies of Iraqis captured or killed in battle on May 14, as well as a video taken at the hospital where the seven corpses were handed over along with their death certificates.
The documents released to the hospital in Al-Majar al-Kebir, signed by hospital director Adel Salid Majid, described signs of "mutilation" and "torture", the newspaper reported.
The defence ministry said it was "investigating the firefight ... and the subsequent deaths," and confirmed that Iraqi detainees held after those clashes had made complaints to the international Red Cross about their treatment.
The fresh reports of abuse bring further embarrassment to Britain following allegations of misconduct of their troops headquartered in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.
Last week the British government announced the courts martial of four soldiers charged with assault and sexual abuse of Iraqi detainees. Seven others could be also referred to army prosecutors for alleged mistreatment.
Reports of alleged abuse at the hands of British soldiers have been rising steadily in the wake of revelations of abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad by US soldiers.
After a fierce three-hour stand-off between the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and Iraqi militia on a road between Amara and Basra in which 14 Iraqis were killed according to the British defence ministry, between nine and 15 Iraqi captives were taken to the British base, the Guardian reported.
The daily said it saw 28 death certificates dated May 14 and 15. A 29th person died of wounds later.
The examining doctor told the Guardian he had received 22 bodies delivered by ambulance from the British base.
A 21-year-old had "several bullet injuries to the body, with mutilation of genitalia", and his penis was "severed". A 19-year-old had bullet wounds and "signs of torture" including a fractured arm and "full distortion of the face".
A third, Ali al Jemindari, 37, had "several bullet injuries in head, face and the body, with slash marks on the neck. The right arm has been severed at the shoulder. There is a large opening in the right cheek and the removal by gouging of the right eye."The death certificates have been questioned by a senior doctor at the nearby Amara hospital who was the first to see the bodies.
The doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the description of the severed arm on one corpse was not totally accurate, and that it was unclear whether some of the mutilation had taken place before or after death. A British army spokesman in Iraq has dismissed the allegations as "absurd".
"Such claims are an insult to the whole British army and an attempt to stain the image of men who are putting their lives at risk every day to secure Iraq for the Iraqis", he said.
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