UK troops 'executed' Iraqis

A group of lawyers is to publish evidence that they claim will prove Iraqi prisoners were executed by British troops.

Some alleged survivors of the gun battle near the southern Iraqi town of Majat-al-Kabir will also claim that corpses were mutilated by UK military.

The incident - known as the Battle of Danny Boy after a checkpoint - took place in May 2004.

The claims are strongly denied by the Ministry of Defence.

Mutilation claims

The allegations were first reported a month after the fighting, but lawyers acting for the survivors said full details would be published for the first time on Friday.

They will suggest that prisoners taken after the three-hour gun battle were moved to a British base at Abu Naji and killed.

During an application for a judicial review connected with the case at the High Court last month, the court heard corpses showed signs of mutilation when they were removed from Abu Naji to a local hospital.

According to death certificates written by the director of the hospital to which the corpses were delivered, a 37-year-old man, Ali al Jemindari, had his right arm severed and an eye gouged out.

But the court heard that another doctor at the hospital said the injuries were consistent with a gun battle.

Lawyers Phil Shiner and Martyn Day are to publish written statements of five alleged survivors of the incident, photographs of the dead, death certificates and other material at a London press conference. BBC